Daily reports show that the health card system, in place in Romania
since May 1st, is now functional, and every day, more and more
people benefit from medical services based on this card. A Health Ministry
communiqué explains that a great part of the medical service providers and the
insured patients have understood the need and importance of implementing a
health card system, which, alongside the e-recipe and the e-file are major
objectives in the process of digitizing the health system.
All these measures
are part of a project of financial control and discipline in the health
insurance system, but there are people who oppose this project, meant to put
order in the system and stop fraud, the health ministry representatives added.
The card’s electronic memory includes such data as the name and last name of
the insured person, a unique code of identification in the health insurance
database, the identification number of the national health insurance card, the
date of birth, and the validity period of the card, which is 5 years. Upon
request by the insured person, the family doctor can include medical data on
the card.
Doctors and pharmacists alike from across Romania have criticized the
awkward functioning of the health card system. Many insured people have not yet
received their health card and televisions have reported for days on end about the
general chaos created by the health card in Romania. In a debate on Radio
Romania, the president of the National Health Insurance House, Vasile Ciurchea,
recalled that the health authorities had informed patients 5 months in advance
that they could already use the card, but family doctors were not willing to
activate their cards. Prime Minister Victor Ponta says the introduction of the
health card system will generate important savings for the state, adding that
efforts will continue to stop fraud in the medical system:
The health card means
savings of at least 300 million euros in 2015, and the money will stay in the
health system. As long as I will be Prime Minister, tax evasion has to be
fought against, and irrespective of divergent opinions, I’ll do my best to
fight this battle to the end for Romania.
The prime minister’s statements come
after last weekend the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis criticized the
government for the flawed manner in which it implemented the health card
system.