Solutions for the health system
The Romanian government has promised to lift the hiring freeze in the healthcare sector, currently facing a severe shortage of workers
Bogdan Matei, 09.01.2024, 13:50
This is not the first time Romanian lawmakers have to amend their own freshly adopted decisions. At the end of 2023, the ruling coalition announced a hiring freeze in the public sector in 2024. Today, they discovered the medical system faces a chronic shortage of workers, and thus announced the unblocking of thousands of vacancies. While years ago Romanian physicians had salaries similar to elsewhere in Western Europe, today many doctors continue to search for better paid jobs abroad, leaving an increasing number of villages without doctors and municipal hospitals without specialists. Looking at the statistics, healthcare professionals say only Bucharest and other large university centers such as Cluj-Napoca, Târgu Mureș, Iași or Craiova have enough physicians, while nearly three quarters of counties face a severe shortage.
From the opposition, USR claims there is a nationwide deficit of over 20,000 nurses and auxiliary staff and some 8,000 physicians. 15,000 doctors are needed at national level, Oana Sivache, executive director of the Administration of Hospitals and Medical Services in Bucharest says, arguing that the governments measures to cut public spending have led to personnel losses, creating difficulties for patients. “We call on the Health Ministry to recognize the critical situation regarding the shortage of medical staff and come up with a methodology for filling vacancies over ta definite period of one year, similar to the measures adopted during the pandemic”.
Oana Sivache criticizes the governments decisions, saying they were adopted in the absence of a preliminary analysis that should factor in the hard realities in the system. In response to such criticism, Health Minister Alexandru Rafila expressed hope the Finance Ministry would adopt over the course of this week the memos for the filling of vacancies in hospitals under the Health Ministrys administration, as well as in those managed by local authorities. Minister Rafila told Radio Romania a few thousand jobs will be made available, first and foremost addressing physicians, including those who took the specialty exam at the end of last year, as well as nurses and auxiliary staff. In turn, Finance Minister Marcel Boloș, who needs to green-light this move and disburse the necessary funds, estimates the problem will be settled this week. The final decision rests with Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. (VP)
