The government has unlocked vacancy-filling contests in the healthcare syst
The government has given the green light to organizing vacancy-filling contests in the Romanian healthcare system.
Leyla Cheamil, 12.01.2024, 14:00
Employment in the medical system was unlocked by the Romanian Government, following several requests in this sense. One of the requests came from the College of Physicians in Bucharest, which called on the Finance Ministry to approve the memorandum submitted by the Health Ministry for the hospitals under its authority, as well as the one submitted by the Development Ministry for the units subordinated to the local authorities. The College, which pointed out that difficult situations are encountered during this period, especially in the Emergency Rooms, due to the insufficient number of doctors, recalled that employment in the public system, including in the public healthcare system, was frozen in the middle of last year. The college drew attention that the lack of staff in hospitals means the exhaustion of the existing one, who have to often work overtime, which can lead, in addition to physical fatigue, to diminishing the quality of the medical services provided to patients or to delays in providing medical assistance.
Thus, in the context of intense pressure from the healthcare system, the government decided to organize contests to fill more than 7,600 vacancies in medical units with staff shortages. 2,500 of the posts are for doctors. The healthcare units that requested the organization of vacancy-filling contests need to immediately start the necessary procedures. The social-democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu underlined that the budget of the Health Ministry is 40% higher than last year, highlighting that each vacancy filled must be reflected in better services for patients. He stated that 6.6 billion lei (about 1.3 billion euros) have already been allocated, which paid off last year’s debts from the healthcare system and ensured the current expenses for this month for medicines and medical services.
In turn, the Health Minister, Alexandru Rafila, pointed out that all doctors posts that were requested by health units were approved, regardless of whether they are subordinated to the Health Ministry or the local authorities. Moreover, within the Memorandum proposed by the Health Ministry, over 365 posts of those approved for vacancy-filling contests are within the ambulance services, given the importance of emergency medicine and the interventions that must be carried out during this period to various calls. Alexandru Rafila asked the healthcare units not to wait too long and to immediately initiate the legal procedures for organizing vacancy-filling contests. He added that, after publication, the contests can be organized within 30 days. The Hleath Minister also said that, at the level of the Government, the discussions will continue and, depending on the needs, other memoranda of approval may be initiated during this year. (LS)
