Salary Rise in the Romanian Healthcare System

The decision to raise healthcare salaries triggered immediate criticism from the Opposition.

Bogdan Matei, 19.08.2015, 13:51

The situation of the Romanian healthcare system is among the few issues to spark off such passion in public debates. Patients and their relatives point a finger to the bad conditions in hospitals and to the incompetence, ill- meaning attitude or rudeness of the healthcare staff, from janitors to hospital directors. Doctors and nurses in their turn complain about the prolonged under-financing of the system, the lack of equipment and the small salaries.

The Romanian government announced it would try to correct part of these abnormalities and decided to raise the salaries of almost 200 thousand people in the field by 25% as of October 1st. The measure will be adopted next week in a government session, said the Social Democrat prime minister Victor Ponta. He said other increases would follow so that by 2017 salaries will double. The measure, the PM added, is possible thanks to the money saved due to the introduction of the obligatory health cards this year.

Also next week the government will send to Parliament a draft law that should state the conditions in which patients can offer doctors small “gifts which many simply call “bribe. The Justice Ministry will draft a bill that shall stipulate the conditions in which patients can give further contributions to those who treated them. Therefore receiving further contributions will not be illegal if they are not conditioned by the doctor or nurse, if they are granted after the completion of the medical act and if they are declared by the recipient for taxation purposes.

The friendly measures taken by the government come against the backdrop of increasing discontent in the healthcare system. Thus over 16 thousand doctors have joined an initiative group set up on a social network where they talk about their small salaries and a possible all-out strike.

The co-president of the National Liberal Party, in opposition, Alina Gorghiu, accuses the government of having gone on a populist move, which will make Romania hard to govern shortly. The claims for salary rises are justified but they cannot be met simultaneously because they will affect the financial stability of the country- the Liberal politician also added. She warned that increasing salaries in the healthcare system would trigger off similar claims by other categories of state employees.

And she was right. The police trade union leaders have also asked for a 25% rise in their salaries. The education trade unions have hailed the measure to increase the medical staffs wage and have requested a similar pay rise for teachers. Trade unionists say that pay rises for certain categories to the detriment of other categories have already led to increased discontent among employees in the education system, which could cause protest actions, now, less than a month before the start of the new school year.