Radio România Internațional

Tag: family physicians

  • Romania gripped by shortage of physicians

    Romania gripped by shortage of physicians

    Romania faces a shortage of thousands of physicians, medical residents and nurses, the Health Ministry says. Over 8,600 vacancies are reported in state hospitals for physicians alone. Large cities, including Bucharest, are equally struggling, although the most severe shortages are reported in rural areas – over 300 villages lack a family physician, while over half of settlements don’t have enough healthcare professionals. In certain villages, shortages were partly solved by bringing in physicians from retirement or by setting up auxiliary care units employing medical professionals tenured elsewhere. As regards medical residents, Health Ministry data points to some 1,600 vacancies. The biggest deficit is reported in the nursing sector, with over 14,500 vacancies at national level, regardless of training. Most of these are reported in hospitals, while the rest in emergency services and wards.

     

     

    How did it come to this, considering salaries in the health sector have increased significantly, by some 80% starting 2018? Despite the pay rise, physicians continue to leave the country seeking more appealing work conditions. In 2023, over 800 physicians applied for the Healthcare Professional Certificate in order to seek employment abroad. In the last year, medical staff shortages have worsened. In May 2023, the Government froze vacancy-filling contests to cut public spending, requiring each specific sector to submit memoranda for all new hires. Following certain protest actions, the Government early this year decided to open to public contest 7,600 vacancies in the health and social welfare sector. However, the procedure typically takes two months, from the moment the announcement is made public to the start of the employment contract.

     

     

    Due to the shortage of physicians and nurses, current employees are overworked, while patients often don’t get the proper care they deserve, hospital managers say. The phenomenon is all the more worrisome as employees are often recalled from paid leave to ensure regular shifts. A Romanian Court of Auditors report examining the human resources management and health infrastructure development over 2014-2021 shows that Romania ranks second to last at EU level in terms of physicians employed nationwide, with a little over 300 physicians per 100 thousand inhabitants. (VP)

  • Compulsory immunization in Romania

    Compulsory immunization in Romania


    Romanian society has had to cope with many delicate topics in recent months with a powerful dividing impact on society. Adding to that was the latest bill on the compulsory vaccination of children and adults. Kept under wraps by Parliament for years, MPs decided to bring the bill back in the limelight and pass it swiftly, apparently in reaction to the coronavirus crisis. In brief, the draft law stipulates that all vaccines included in the national immunization programme become compulsory. Other vaccines might become compulsory in an epidemiological emergency, with the exception of special cases where physicians confirm the vaccine is ill-advised. Parents will have to say whether they agree to vaccinate their children at birth. If parents say no and there is no certified medical opinion against taking the vaccine, family physicians will have to present the benefits of vaccination to the parents. If parents still refuse, then a group of specialists with the Health Ministry will provide counseling over the course of three months. If at the end of a year parents still refuse to vaccinate their child, they will be handed a warning and subsequently a fine of up to 2,000 euros.



    At the same time upon enrollment in nursery or primary schools the leadership of the schooling unit must ask parents to produce a certification attesting to the observance of the national vaccination scheme or the existence of medical exemptions or a timetable for administrating the missing vaccines. Another provision in the bill is that the Health Ministry must at all times have a stockpile of vaccines covering the demand for 18 months. Anti-vaccine supporters have been piling pressure on MPs, sending hundreds of messages asking them not to vote a law “that will subject children to forceful injections” imposed by “an occult global mass”. They are invoking freedom of choice as opposed to dictatorship, fearing vaccines might be genetically engineered. Considering 2020 is an election year, political parties have either overtly argued in favor of compulsory immunization, or decided to let each of their members vote his own way.



    The Social-Democratic Party and Pro Romania Party in opposition say they firmly support the compulsory vaccination of children that would protect them against epidemiological risks. The National Liberal Party in power and Save Romania Union in general favor the bill, although there have been some voices on both sides opposing the draft law. We recall that, according to UNICEF statistics, Romania reported some 19,000 cases of measles inflections over 2016-2019, a total of 60 people dying to the epidemic. Most cases were reported in unvaccinated children.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)




  • 5 April, 2016

    5 April, 2016

    LEAKS – Fiscal authorities in several countries have initiated investigations after the revelations related to the Mossack Fonseca Panama law firm document leaks. The leaks reveal that heads of state past and present, business people and famous athletes, as well as criminal organizations, got help to hide their wealth in tax havens. On the list are also close associates of President Putin, British PM Camerons father, Ukrainian president Poroshenko, and the PM of Iceland, who is being pressured to resign. Documents relating to Romania reveal over 100 names, mostly those of business people.



    INVESTMENT – German corporation Daimler has invested 300 million Euro in the newest major greenfield initiative in Romania, in the town of Sebes, in Transylvania. The latest type of automobile gearboxes are set to be built there, destined for 20 models of Mercedes cars, sold in 200 countries. The initiative provides 500 jobs in Sebes, a city with 24,000 inhabitants, bringing unemployment there to below 2%.



    EMPLOYMENT – Eurostat released data according to which the number of unemployed in Romania went below 600,000 in February. With an unemployment rate below 6.5%, Romania is one of the countries that still ranks below the average rate in the EU from this point of view. This year, the average unemployment rate in the EU finally got below 9%, the lowest in 7 years. The total number of people without jobs is over 21 million in the Union. Topping the list are still Greece and Spain, with 24% and 20% unemployment respectively.



    PHYSICIANS – Family physicians in Romania resumed normal activity today, after they stopped issuing referrals and subsidized drug prescriptions, in protest against underfunding. They said that they would continue protests in various other forms in order to reach a settlement. They want to renegotiate their framework contract with the state, which had been postponed for three months, demanding double the funds allocated to primary healthcare, as well as legislative changes such as tax breaks and transparency in spending.



    DEFENSE – Romanian Defense Minister Mihnea Motoc held talks today in Bucharest with Turkish Deputy Defense Minister Shuay Alpay regarding cooperation in the defense industry, enhanced by the agreement signed in May 2015. Romanian and Turkish defense industry companies signed a protocol to work together in modernizing the Romanian frigates King Ferdinand and Queen Marie, in order to upgrade their missile systems and sensors. Recently, three Turkish warships taking part in a naval exercise made a stopover for two days in the port of Constanta.



    TAROM – Flights by Romanian airline Tarom to Brussels have resumed partially today after Zaventem airport reopened. According to the company, the airport in Brussels has enhanced security measures, allowing only passengers with a boarding pass in the check-in area. Air traffic resumed on Sunday, almost two weeks after the bloody attacks against the airport and the metro in Belgium, which left 32 dead. Zaventem has a yearly traffic amounting to over 23 million. Losses resulting from the airport closing down as a result of the attacks amounted to five million Euros daily.



    POLO – Romanias national polo team played against France in Trieste, losing 11-12 the second group A game in the preliminaries of the Olympics. In the first game in the group, Romania had won against Slovakia 13-11. The national team is in the same group with Hungary, Canada, France, Russia and Slovakia, 13-11. After two games, Romania ranks 3rd, with 2 points. The first four teams in the two groups will qualify to the quarter finals. The semi-finalists will earn qualification to the Olympic games this summer, in Rio de Janeiro.

  • April 4, 2016 UPDATE

    April 4, 2016 UPDATE

    ROMANIAN ACADEMY – The Romanian Academy on Monday celebrated 150 years of existence. A solemn ceremony marked the event, bringing together representatives of the authorities, foreign guests, presidents of European academies, men of culture and Romanian scholars, members of the Romanian academy and contributors from across the country and abroad. Founded in 1866 under the name of the Romanian Literary Society, the institution was later known as the Romanian Academic Society, quickly growing into a landmark of Romanian culture and science. In 1879 the institution changed its name again into the Romanian Academy. Its members include renowned scholars of national and international status in a plethora of fields, from history, philosophy and linguistics to nuclear physics, chemistry, macro- and micro-biology. At present the Academy comprises 84 tenure members, 76 contributors, 45 honorary members, of whom six from abroad.



    MOTION – The Chamber of Deputies on Monday started debating, in a plenary session, the first simple motion against a member of the technocratic cabinet led by Dacian Ciolos. The initiators of the document, Romanias Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, accuse Justice Minister Raluca Pruna that the ordinance she promotes, on wiretapping in criminal proceedings would turn Romania into an unsafe state, putting human rights up for debate, instead of fundamentally observing them. While the Liberals dismissed the initiative as “hilarious, the Social-Democrats said they would neither support nor file simple motions, but they would call for a cabinet reshuffle. The motion is to be voted upon on Wednesday.



    PROTEST – Part of the family physicians in Romania on Monday continued the strike started last week. They will not issue prescriptions and referrals, as they did on Friday. The protest concerns the delays in signing the framework agreement for 2016 and the lack of funding for general practitioners. Doctors threaten to call a token strike over the following days unless their demands are met.



    PANAMA PAPERS – Heads of state and high-ranking officials from all over the world, billionaires, renowned athletes and businessmen, including from Romania, as well as infamous criminal networks all transpire in a huge leak of confidential documents of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealing how the company manages the estates of the worlds richest and most famous people in offshore accounts. According to the BBC, the documents were investigated by journalists from 70 countries, and seem to be the hugest information leak on global corruption. The documents mention such names as the President of Argentina, the Prime Minister of Iceland, the President of Ukraine, the King of Saudi Arabia, close associates of the Russian and Chinese presidents, or current and former professional athletes, such as Michel Platini and Lionel Messi



    TRANSDNIESTER – The foreign ministers of Russia and the Republic of Moldova, Sergey Lavrov and Andrei Galbur, respectively, on Monday confirmed in Moscow their governments support for the resumption of negotiations in the 5+2 format, in the effort to solve the conflict between Chishinau and Tiraspol. Negotiations in this format – with the participation of Chishinau and Tiraspol, alongside Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE as mediator and the US and the EU as observers – have been suspended since 2014. Andrei Galbur has expressed hope the visits paid to Chishinau and Tiraspol on Tuesday and Wednesday by representatives, mediators and international observers will contribute to the fast resumption of negotiations, without prerequisites. We recall that Transdniester de facto, got out of Chishinaus control in 1992, following an armed conflict that left hundreds of dead, and which ended with the intervention of the Russian troops, on the separatists side.



    IMMIGRANTS – Hundreds of illegal immigrants, mostly from Pakistan and Bangladesh, have been shipped back to Turkey from Lesbos and Chios islands in Greece, FRONTEX reports. This is the first such shipment of illegal migrants being deported to Turkey, based on the readmission agreement Turkey signed with the EU on March 18. The provisions of the agreement apply to all illegal migrants arrived in Turkey via Greece starting March 20. France Press news agency estimates some 6,000 people will be shipped back. Under the agreement, for every migrant deported to Turkey via the Greek Islands, another Syrian will be resettled in the EU. The first Syrian asylum-seekers arrived in Germany on Monday.



    CLASHES – Violent clashes continue between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan with a majority Armenian population. The conflict is high on the agenda of next weeks meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, the United States and France. Fighting between the two sides over the region started in 1988 and ended in 1994, killing over 30,000 people in the process and displacing hundreds of thousands of Azeri refugees.



    SPORTS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep dropped one place in WTA standings, now ranking 6th. She was outranked by Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who last week won the tennis tournament in Miami, the US. Halep was knocked out in the quarterfinals, losing to Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland. In news from handball, the womens team Corona Brasov lost to TuS Metzingen of Germany 22-26 on home turf, in the first leg of the EHF Cup semi-finals. The return leg will be played on April 9 in Germany.


    (Translated by Vlad Palcu and Diana Vijeu)

  • April 4, 2016

    April 4, 2016

    ROMANIAN ACADEMY — The Romanian Academy today celebrates 150 years of existence. A solemn ceremony marked the event, bringing together representatives of the authorities, foreign guests, presidents of European academies, men of culture and Romanian scholars, members of the Romanian academy and contributors from across the country and abroad. Founded in 1866 under the name of the Romanian Literary Society, the institution was later known as the Romanian Academic Society, quickly growing into a landmark of Romanian culture and science. In 1879 the institution changed its name again into the Romanian Academy. Its members include renowned scholars of national and international status in a plethora of fields, from history, philosophy and linguistics to nuclear physics, chemistry, macro- and micro-biology. At present the Academy comprises 84 tenure members, 76 contributors, 45 honorary members, of whom six from abroad.



    MOTION — The Chamber of Deputies is today debating the first simple motion against the technocratic Cabinet led by Dacian Ciolos, filed by the Group of Conservatives and Liberals from Romania and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians from Romania. The two parties accuse Justice Minister Raluca Pruna that her ordinance on wiretapping in criminal proceedings puts human rights up for debate, instead of fundamentally observing them. While the Liberals dismissed the initiative as ‘hilarious’, the Social-Democrats said they would neither support nor file simple motions, although calling for a Cabinet reshuffle.



    PROTEST — Part of the family physicians in Romania continue today the strike action started last week. They will not issue prescriptions and referrals, as they did on Friday. The protest concerns the delays in signing the framework agreement for 2016 and the lack of funding for general practitioners. Doctors threaten to call a warning strike over the following days unless their demands are met.



    PANAMA PAPERS — Heads of state and high-ranking officials from all over the world, billionaires, renowned athletes and businessmen, including from Romania, as well as infamous criminal networks all transpire in a huge leak of confidential documents of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealing how the company manages the estates of the world’s richest and most famous people in offshore accounts. According to the BBC, the documents were investigated by journalists from 70 countries, and seem to be the hugest information leak on global corruption. The documents mention such names as the Prime Minister of Iceland, the President of Ukraine, the King of Saudi Arabia, close associates of the Russian and Chinese presidents, or current and former professional athletes, such as Michel Platini and Lionel Messi.



    IMMIGRANTS — Hundreds of illegal immigrants, mostly from Pakistan and Bangladesh, are today being shipped back to Turkey from Lesbos and Chios islands in Greece, FRONTEX reports. This is the first such shipment of illegal migrants being deported to Turkey, based on the readmission agreement Turkey signed with the EU on March 18. The provisions of the agreement apply to all illegal migrants arrived in Turkey via Greece starting March 20. France Press news agency estimates some 6,000 people will be shipped back. Under the agreement, for every Syrian citizens deported to Turkey via the Greek Islands, another Syrian will be resettled in the EU. The first Syrian asylum-seekers arrived in Germany today.



    CLASHES — Violent clashes continue between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan with a majority Armenian population. The conflict is high on the agenda of next week’s meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, the United States and France. Fighting between the two sides over the region started in 1988 and ended in 1994, killing over 30,000 people in the process and displacing hundreds of thousands of Azeri refugees.



    WATER POLO — The Romanian men’s water polo team is today playing France as part of the pre-Olympic tournament in Trieste, Italy. On Sunday, in its debut match, Romania defeated Slovakia 13-11. Also playing in Group A are Canada, Russia and Hungary. The first four teams in the group tables will qualify to the quarterfinals, while the semi-finalists will qualify to the Rio Olympics.



    SPORTS — Romanian tennis player Simona Halep dropped one place in WTA standings, now ranking 6th. She was outranked by Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who last week won the tennis tournament in Miami, the US. Halep was knocked out in the quarterfinals, losing to Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland. In news from handball, the women’s team Corona Brasov lost to TuS Metzingen of Germany 22-26 on home turf, in the first leg of the EHF Cup semi-finals. The return leg will be played on April 9 in Germany.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • April 1, 2016 UPDATE

    April 1, 2016 UPDATE

    NUCLEAR SECURITY – US President Barack Obama on Friday warned that the nuclear terrorist threat by jihadist groups continues to loom over the international community, despite global counteraction. In the opening of the nuclear summit in Washington, Obama said that although the risk has been significantly lowered, nuclear terrorism continues to evolve. Terrorist will find it harder and harder to obtain nuclear material, much owing to a key treaty ratified in over 102 states. Representing Romania in Washington was president Klaus Iohannis.



    NOMINATION — Romanian Justice Minister on Friday nominated Augustin Lazar for the position of Prosecutor General of the High Court of Cassation and Justice. The proposal has been submitted to the Superior Council of Magistracy. Under the law, the Romanian President appoints the Prosecutor General, after being proposed by the Justice Minister and green-lighted by the Superior Council of Magistracy. Augustin Lazar is at present Prosecutor General with the Alba Iulia Prosecutor’s Office. The office of prosecutor general has been left vacant after Tiberiu Nitu resigned on February 2, 4 months before his mandate expired, against the backdrop of an investigation into the illegal use of motorcades.



    PROTEST – Family doctors in Romania are protesting again, unhappy with the fact that medical services cannot be reimbursed, as the framework agreement with the National Health Insurance Agency was not extended. Doctors have announced they will not issue any subsidised prescriptions and medical letters. They are unhappy with the under funding of their sector and with the fact that they are forced to pay from their own pockets the errors produced by the health card. Doctors threaten that if their claims are not solved, within 10 days they will start a warning strike. Last week, family doctors picketed the headquarters of the Health Ministry.



    ELECTIONS IN MOLDOVA — Presidential elections will be held on October 30 in the Republic of Moldova under a draft law voted on Friday by the Moldovan Parliament. The election campaign will start on July 30. The mandate of the current head of state, Nicolae Timofti will expire on March 23, but he will remain interim president until the elections. The next president will be voted directly by Moldovan citizens, after the Constitutional Court last month nulified a 2000 provision stipulating that Parliament must elect the head of state.



    COMMEMORATION — The village of Fantana Alba in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, paid an homage to the victims of the April 1, 1941 massacre, when over 2,000 Romanians were executed by Soviet troops for wanting to take refuge in Northern Bukovina, in Romania at the time. Attending the event, Minister Delegate for Romanians Worldwide Dan Stoenescu said this painful moment would linger in the collective memory of Romanians and Ukrainians. Stoenescu went on to say that history decided that important communities of the two countries shoud live on both sides of the border. Dan Stoenescu said it was the duty of Romania and Ukraine to work together to create the premises of a good cohabitation, respect and trust, contributing to the much-needed increase of stability in this part of Europe.



    INVESTIGATION — A criminal investigation was opened in Bucharest after two Muslim young girls wearing the Islamic veil were assaulted on a street in District 2. According to the local police, the young women, aged 16 and 18, were assaulted by a group of five unknown individuals, who pulled off their veils and physically assaulted them. The victims didn’t need medical care and didn’t file a complaint, but the police have referred the matter to itself. Romania is home to over 65,000 Muslim people, most of whom are of Tartar and Turkish origin.



    CURRENCY – In January — March 2016, Romania’s national currency, the leu, managed to appreciate against 13 currencies out of the 16 most important in the region, but also against the Euro, the USD and the Swiss Franc. The Romanian currency thus registered its best January — March period in the last years. Euro lost 1.1% to the leu, from 4.52 lei, the reference rate established by the National Bank of Romania in its last session in December 2015, to 4.47 lei, as set on Thursday. The USD lost 5% to the leu in the first quarter of the year, after depreciated against the EU against the background of cautious expectations regarding the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve, the most powerful central bank in the world.



    TURKEY – The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, currently on a visit to Washington, has made an appeal to the European countries to support his government’s fight against the Kurdish separatists. On Thursday, Turkey was hit again by a suicide attack, the third in less than three weeks, claimed by the PKK. A car bomb exploded in the town of Diyarbakir, in the south-east, killing 70 policemen and wounding 27 people, half of them also policemen.