The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete, was on Sunday, November 9, at the Institute of Oncology in Bucharest, where the largest multi-organ screening and prevention center for oncology in Romania was inaugurated.
Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete/PHOTO: Video capture
“I have said since the beginning of my mandate that screening and prevention are perhaps the most important elements in the development of the health system in Romania. I am happy to be today at the Oncology Institute in Bucharest, where the largest multi-organ and oncology screening and prevention center in Romania is being inaugurated.”
The investment, says the minister, was made from the state budget, European funds and the World Bank.
“We are discussing here a multi-source investment, made both from the state budget and from European funds or the World Bank, important acquisition of screening equipment for mammography or for HPV, an impressive development of the pathological anatomy laboratory that I just visited.”
Investments of 50 million lei in the last 3 years, from the state budget, PNRR or the World Bank
The minister also congratulated the team for their efforts and highlighted the 50 million lei investments made in the last three years, promising their continuation, including the purchase of a 3 Tesla MRI for the expansion of screening programs, especially for prostate cancer.
“Patients, starting tomorrow, can benefit from screening services from this center. I congratulate the doctor manager, with whom I have worked since 2023, when we started the implementation of the PNRR program. I congratulate the institute’s team for the good things they do for patients and I want to thank them for their effort day and night, because medicine means 24 hours, 7 days a week.
Unfortunately, sometimes you answer to public opinion for the carelessness or incapacity of the system, and I apologize for this. But the good things, which can be seen and which help the patients, are the cdoes it matter
The Institute of Oncology in Bucharest is undergoing transformation: investments of 50 million lei in the last 3 years, from the state budget, PNRR or the World Bank. We continue to invest, so that the screening palette is a complete one, and here I am referring specifically to prostate cancer. Last week we approved a pre-financing agreement for a 3 Tesla MRI so that the radiology range is completed.”
Alexandru Rogobete stated that, from his point of view, it is the largest and most complex oncology screening and prevention center in Romania.
How the screening and oncology center will be funded
Asked how the Ministry of Health will continue to finance the budget of this center, he stated that it comes from several sources.
“We are talking here about funds from the national programs from the National Health Insurance House, but also direct funds from the Ministry of Health. Of course, now together with the team from the Ministry of Health, we are working on that national screening and prevention strategy that will include the main pathologies. I am referring to the cardio and cerebrovascular area, I am obviously referring to oncology, rare diseases, nutrition, diabetes and surely the list can go on.
We are trying to, for each type of pathology, create a national program within the Ministry of Health, so that on the one hand we provide predictability of funding for such programs and on the other hand we achieve an administrative relaxation, if I can call it that, with a clear path of the patient and the funds, so that these investigations can be carried out and people can have access to screening and prevention, as this country should and could, as you see, to do”, the Minister of Health also stated.
About the Patient Platform
About the Patient Platform, the minister announced that it is in the works. The new health insurance IT platform will be partially launched at the end of this year and fully operational in August next year.
“A digital platform is in the works not only for patients, but also for the medical staff. Also through this platform we will consult the main legislative projects that we have in mind, both with the medical staff and with civil society, in a digital way, much more easily accessible for as many patients as possible.”
In terms of health cards and new identity cards, there will be a new health insurance IT platform. The first version will be available at the end of this year, and the system will be fully functional and integrated at the end of the first semester, practically in August next year. To begin with, we will enter a transition period so that services can be accessed both through the existing health card, whose validity period has been extended, and through the new electronic ID cards.”
Last but not least, the minister talked about the reason why full integration is not being done at the moment.
“Why is the full integration not done yet? As I said, there is a significant percentage of people in Romania who believe that, with the new electronic health insurance card, they will be microchipped.
That being said, there is a significant group of people we can’t ignore who believe that medicine is done with water, energy, or nanobots. Until we overcome these elements of confusion, we must provide access to everyone in the system, regardless of the form of access.”
