The authorities are looking for solutions abroad for Romanian patients in need of immediate lung transplant.
Every successive government in the last 25 years has tried to reform the country's struggling healthcare system, but results are yet to appear. Under-funding, corruption, inefficient treatments, almost inexistent prevention programmes, hospital-acquired infections, high mortality rates and staff migration abroad to look for better jobs are just some of the problems affecting Romania's healthcare system.
A new heavy blow has been dealt to Romanian patients recently when the AKH hospital in Vienna unilaterally terminated its contract with the Romanian authorities on grounds of the reduced capacity of its transplant centre. The Romanian patients who need immediate lung transplant are therefore left with no option. According to the Healthcare Minister Florian Bodog, what the Austrian hospital did is both unfair and illegal. On the other hand, the Romanian Transplant Authority had an inappropriate response as well, the Minister explained, and promised the authorities are working to resolve the issue. Florian Bodog:
"According to protocol, the clinic in Austria had no right to unilaterally terminate this contract. At the same time, we are in touch with the other centres performing lung transplant, namely those in Prague and Germany. Normally, the National Transplant Authority should have been working with at least two centres. As far as I know, the necessary steps have already been taken, they already had signals in this respect. Something similar happened last year as well, when the clinic in Vienna blocked transplants, but in my opinion this unilateral termination of the contract is illegal."
In the past 10 years, almost 40 Romanians benefited from lung transplant at the AKH hospital, and five others were on the waiting list for similar interventions. For each of these operations, the Romanian state paid 120,000 euros. Kidney, liver and heart transplants have been performed in Romania for several years, but lung transplants are not available at present because patient safety cannot be ensured.
Under the circumstances, it comes as no surprise that the Romanian healthcare system ranks last in Europe, according to a recent survey of 35 countries. The document highlights that Romanians usually bypass family doctors and resort to in-hospital treatment instead. Also, in Romania patients have to wait long to receive new medication, overall death rates are 25% above the EU average, and child mortality rate is 2.5 times higher than the European average. The figures only confirm the serious condition the Romanian healthcare system is currently in.
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