Difficult access to medical services, a chaotic or even non-existent patient circuit, overcrowded hospitals, lack of doctors in small areas, major delays in access to innovative treatments and a system that hides its own problems under the rug – these are just some of the dysfunctions faced by chronic patients in Romania. Radu Gănescu, the president of COPAC (Coalition of Organizations of Patients with Chronic Diseases), describes a fragmented system, in which the patient often has to “manage”.
Issues facing patients, debated at Healthcare Forum
On March 24, the Healthcare Forum will take place. The truth about the health of Romanians, an event that brings doctors, authorities, patients and important factors from the health industry to the same table to discuss, in a clear and open way, the main problems of the health system.
Truth is an impartial mediator that brings together all relevant voices in the field. Health is not just a service, but a critical infrastructure that supports the functioning of society.
Among those who will present the patients’ point of view is Radu Gănescu, president of the Coalition of Organizations of Patients with Chronic Diseases (COPAC) and of the Association of People with Thalassemia Major in Romania (APTM).
A chaotic circuit, where patients are left to fend for themselves
One of the most serious dysfunctions, says Radu Gănescu, is the lack of a clear path for the patient after diagnosis.
“What happens after you go to the doctor and get diagnosed? Which specialist doctor do you need to go to? What is the medical facility?”asks the patient representative rhetorically.
He says that the patient circuit in Romanian hospitals can be defined by a single word: chaotic.
“I think that at the present time it is a chaotic circuit, which cannot be known by anyone. when you become a patient you don’t know exactly what to do. It’s a contest of circumstances and everyone tries to find a solution, to find their specialist doctor, to find a place or an appointment”, says this one.
In the absence of an organized system, patients are forced to improvise:
“Everyone goes where they can. That is, where he can find, where he can schedule a consultation. Those who can go to the private system. This lack of transparency is a big, big problem for patients!” And we end up in the situation where <
The lack of a clear scheduling system is another problem
Another problem identified by patients is related to appointments when it comes to state medical facilities.
Radu Gănescu says that these should be done,,online, transparent, to enter the ambulatory of medical units to be able to make an appointment”.
The lack of such procedures only leads to the amplification of chaos. Patients often have to test their patience in the corridors of medical facilities.
Clear appointments would also benefit doctors, says Radu Gănescu:
“If there were appointments, the doctor would also be relaxed, he would know how many appointments he has, people wouldn’t have to come and stand at the door.”
Overcrowded large hospitals and uneven services
The lack of a patient circuit has direct effects on the entire system. Most of the people who need medical services end up going to the health facilities in the big cities, which thus become overcrowded. At the same time, the president of COPAC draws attention, “small hospitals don’t have equipment or they don’t have human resources, so everyone goes where they can”.
The patients’ representative also says that in many areas of Romania, especially if we are talking about rural areas or small towns, patients do not have easy access to medical services.
The patient, walking between specialists
The lack of an integrated approach represents another problem of the health system in Romania.
“When you treat a chronic patient, you need various investigations and various specialties. Currently, the lack of a multidisciplinary team makes the patient go from doctor to doctor: to look for a cardiologist in one place, an endocrinologist in another, a diabetologist in another, etc. And then there are a lot of roads, a lot of vacation days, money taken out of the patient’s pocket for transportation. Each specialty sees its own pathology, but no one sees, as a whole, the patient’s problems”says Radu Gănescu.
Adevărul organizes Healthcare Forum 2026. The Minister of Health will participate in the discussions about the problems and solutions of the health system
Delayed access to medical innovations
Another critical point is patients’ access to innovative treatments for the conditions they are diagnosed with.
“We are a country where drugs approved at the European level appear somewhere after 800-900 days”, draws the attention of Radu Gănescu.
Predictability could improve things, in his opinion:
“I have recently recovered, the Minister of Health put a very long list of medicines, but I think that if there was a periodic change – every 6 months, every 9 months – that the patients would also know, it would be a benefit for everyone”.
Public versus private: between conscious choice and veiled pressure
The patient representative supports the right to choose when it comes to the medical facility: state or private. What shouldn’t happen, he points out, is pressure.
“This is happening. There are patients who go to the public hospital for monitoring or other consultations and are then called to the private system.
I think things differ from doctor to doctor and patient to patient. There are patients who prefer to go privately for various reasons: because they do not waste a lot of time, the consultation is much quieter, it is not done in a hallway, they have time to talk to the doctor, to receive the necessary information. Which is ok. Others, indeed, want to go into the public system either because they can’t afford it or because they’ve paid contributions all their lives and need benefits when they happen to become patients. (…) As long as the patient has chosen his audience, let him go to the audience. If he chose private, let him go to private without any problem”
Even the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete, sent the control body to a health unit in Bucharest after a doctor employed in both the public and private systems allegedly carried out surgical activity at a private unit during state work hours. The minister stated, however, that this is not a singular case.
Radu Gănescu says that it is about individual responsibility, but also that better legislation would be needed from the point of view of management and control.
Radu Gănescu: Hiding under the mat, the biggest problem
However, says the representative of patients with chronic conditions, Romania suffers from a problem that is difficult to cure – the denial of problems:
“Romania would not be the first country, it also happens in other countries: you violated your work schedule or certain rules of behavior and communication, there are commissions and penalties. But these things generally don’t happen to us because we are taught to brush them off. Just as we sweep nosocomial infections under the rug. Consider that hospitals in Romania theoretically have fewer nosocomial infections than hospitals in the United States.
Why it is easier for the private sector to build hospitals than for the state: “Very often the whole process is restarted from scratch”
It’s something we delude ourselves with and steal our hat: that things are working for us when in fact they are not. And when we recognize the problems, then we will be able to find solutions. Until then, things will not be resolved. And what happens over time? We see patients with various complications from nosocomial infections, we see antibiotic resistancehush
This is the biggest problem of the medical system in Romania: hiding under the rug.”
What steps forward have been taken
Radu Gănescu also mentioned the points where things have evolved in recent years.
“We see that many medical units have already been renovated and new equipment has been brought. Increasingly complex investigations are reimbursed. We see that new medical units are being built, with European funds: whether we are talking about regional hospitals or wards for major burns. Things we haven’t had before. It’s a beginning, from my point of view.”
At the same time, according to the patient representative, empathy, good communication and involvement in finding medical solutions should be essential pillars of the health system.
