The crisis of doctors led the authorities of Galati County to find innovative solutions, because otherwise they risked investing unnecessarily in new buildings and modern equipment. In addition to paying the rent, free transport, the doctors who come to the hospitals in Tg. Bujor and Tecuci also receive monthly incentives in euros.
New equipment at Tg Hospital. Peony PHOTO: CJ Galati
The shortage of specialist doctors has been increasing in recent years, and more and more hospitals in Romania, especially those in the province, are facing such a problem. In order to get out of this deadlock, in Galati, the authorities made investments with European funds (new buildings, wards and outpatient clinics), the endowment with high-performance equipment, but also a series of facilities for doctors: discounted rent, free transport and an incentive financial allowance of 400 euros, monthly, with each salary. It is about the doctors who come to practice in hospitals tens of kilometers away from the city of Galați, such as the hospitals in Tg. Peony and Tecuci.
Medical staff Hospital Tg. Peony PHOTO: CJ Galati
In recent months, thanks to the investments and these facilities, four new doctors arrived at the Tg hospital. Peony, from the north of Galati county. Among them is a doctor from Cameroon, who studied at the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest. Dr. Aurelien Mbapou Kamga did his residency at large hospitals in Bucharest and took the specialty exam with a very good grade.
“It is a hospital with modern equipment, just like the hospitals in Bucharest. I have everything I need here.” says Mbambou Kamga, gynecologist.
Also at the Tg Hospital. Peony came, in the last month, two young laboratory doctors. They will have at their disposal a new laboratory, four times larger than the current one and with double the number of equipment, some for the first time in the equipment of the medical unit.
“How can we not succeed with such buildings, investments, with such better equipment than in hospitals in big cities? We attracted a neonatologist, a gynecologist from Cameroon, two young laboratory doctors. The Galati County Council settles their rent, the doctors have their transport insured, plus a financial incentive on their salary. All commuting doctors receive this incentive. It is a significant amount, and the fact that they are brought from home to the hospital and back in good conditions means a lot”said Victoria Ghionea, the manager of the hospital.
Doctor from Cameroon, at Tg. Peony PHOTO: C. Mazilu
Incentives for medical physicists from Radiotherapy
The medical physicists who work at the Radiotherapy Department of the Galati County Hospital also receive financial incentives. There is a big shortage of medical physicists, and in order to be convinced to come to Galați, they are offered financial incentives. The budget provided by the County Council for the payment of these incentives is 330,0000 lei, annually.
“We offer financial incentives to doctors from Tecuci and Tg. Peony, but we also have certain specializations, such as medical physicists, who are not classified as medical personnel. They receive lower wages than nurses. We have a very large number of cancer patients and we are in great need of these medical physicists in the Radiotherapy Department. That's why we preferred to grant an incentive, from the County Council's budget, for these people to stay at the County Hospital”claims Costel Fotea, the president of CJ Galați.
European investments, in the hospitals in the north of Galati County
The other days, at Târgu Bujor Hospital, the main building of the medical unit was rehabilitated and modernized from scratch. In the new building, the Maternity Department will operate, with the Obstetrics-Gynecology and Neonatology sections, the delivery room and lounges for patients and newborns, and the General Surgery, with the operating room, intensive therapy lounges, medical offices and lounges for patients. The value of the investment is 6,500,000 lei, European funds.
Also at the Tg Hospital. Pejor, soon, the new building of the Outpatient Clinic will be inaugurated.
Thus, the hospital that provides medical services for approximately 60,000 people in the center of the county will operate only in new buildings or modernized from scratch.
What the new hospital in Tecuci will look like PHOTO: CJ Galați
And the town of Tecuci will have a new hospital with more than 100 beds and modern facilities, including a helipad for the SMURD helicopter. Currently, the medical facility operates in a 120-year-old building.
It is a historic investment for Tecuci and for approximately 120,000 people from the center and north of the county, given that the Galati County Hospital is 80 kilometers away.
