The state of the Romanian healthcare system
Health Minister announces new measures in public healthcare
România Internațional, 09.01.2019, 13:07
The practice of giving bribes in Romanian hospitals is still very common, despite the significant increase in the salaries of medical staff, nurses and auxiliary staff in the system, applied last year in March, Romanias Health Minister Sorina Pintea has said. The Romanian official wants to devise an action plan, jointly with trade federations and unions in the system, to curb the practice of offering money in Romanian hospitals. As for the doctors who left the country, Minister Pintea expressed confidence that things will go back to normal.
The Health Minister also said the equipment procurement program will continue and explained that good salaries are not enough to stimulate doctors, they also need the proper medical equipment to do their job. The Health Minister had talks with representatives of trade unions, agreeing to strengthen the role of trade unions so they may be able to take decisions that would solve some of the problems related to the work of hospital employees.
The Romanian official also believes the income of medical staff wont go down starting this month, when the new tax regulation adopted last year by emergency decree is bound to take effect. The document stipulates, among other things, the freezing of bonuses, although the base salary will go up for several categories of medical staff.
On the other hand, Sorina Pintea announced new checks to take place in maternity hospitals all over the country starting next week, aimed at detecting hospital-acquired infections. The decision comes after 45 babies in a well-established maternity hospital in Bucharest contracted a staphylococcal infection at the end of last year. The Public Safety Authority shut down the hospital for nearly three weeks, especially as some medical staff were also carriers. The Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital in Ploiesti, southern Romania, also reported that seven nurses and orderlies tested positive for this specific infection.
(translated by: Vlad Palcu)
