The Ministry of Health has launched a guide for good practices for supporting local authorities in attracting and maintaining medical staff. In some counties in Romania, cataloged as “medical deserts”, access to health services is affected by the lack of medical staff.
Several counties in Romania are facing the lack of medical staff. Source: freepik.com
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health launched a guide to good practices meant to support local authorities in attracting and stabilizing medical staff.
“The guide for local actions, solutions for human resources in health” It was realized within the National Plan of Redress and Resility by the Ministry of Health, in partnership with the World Health Organization.
Present at the launch event of the Guide of Good Practices, Dr. Alexandru Rafila, the Minister of Health, said that the health reforms in progress are highlighted two important directions.
Many family doctors on the brink of retirement
One of them, included in the guide of good practices, offers solutions for attracting and stabilizing medical staff, especially in disadvantaged areas.
“Although, in terms of the total number of doctors, we are not bad at European level, in terms of distribution, things are not only perfectable, but it is necessary to be modified in the sense of identifying some levers and stabilization of medical personnel, in general, and especially of doctors. We have a serious problem with family medicine. Medical in the disadvantaged areas, a solution is the close collaboration between the local authorities and the universities of medicine ”, said Dr. Alexandru Rafila.
The Minister of Health said that the second essential direction of the reforms supported by PNRR aims at the training of human resources in health, through a partnership between the universities of medicine, the National Institute of Health Services and the Ministry of Health, which makes the training of thousands of people in the next period.
Residence on the post should become a priority
Alexandru Rafila also spoke about the importance of returning to the residency on the post, to form doctors according to the needs of the communities.
“I think it would be wise to return to the form of organization of the residency on the job, which is now largely in the responsibility of the universities. This model should become a priority, because we do not form doctors for the sake of qualification, but to serve the communities. Developing the residency on the job, together with the efforts of the local authorities and the local authorities,”said the Minister of Health.
The good practice guide is the result of a long partnership between the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health.
“We have brought the experiences accumulated both at our office in Romania and at the Regional Bureau, and together with those from the Ministry of Health and our colleagues, we visited different places in Romania to better understand what kind of support is necessary. This knowledge was summarized in the present document, an open statement for the consultation system is to be highlighted. says Dr. Caroline Clarinval, the head of the WHO office in Romania.
Romania remains an exporting country of doctors
The guide contains applicable solutions, examples of good practice and explanations regarding the legal framework, meant to support the communities in attracting and preserving medical staff, says Dr. Dragoș Garofil, involved in the guide.
He stated that Romania is, from 2008-2010, among the European states with the largest number of medicine graduates compared to the population. However, at the same time, it also records one of the highest rates of emigration of doctors to the West.
“Another reality, this time sadder, is that Romania is a net operating country. For a long time, we have lost highly qualified specialists to Western Europe. Over 20,000 Romanian doctors are currently working in these countries. There are about 5,000 Romanian doctors in France, 4,000 in Germany. It solves, somehow, the problem of human resources through Romania.says the doctor.
The salary increases have diminished the doctors’ migration
The migration trend has been slowed down in recent years. According to statistics, the number of doctors leaving Romania decreased from about 1,500 (before 2016) to below 500.
“How has it succeeded? Through the 2018 wage increases, by reforming the 2018 residency, when the number of positions removed to the competition was correlated with the number of graduates of medicine, so that the number of places and positions to residency has reached almost 5,000 each year, through the development of the private system, through the employment in the public system, which, especially in the pandema period, were especially in the period.says Dr. Dragoș Garofil.
According to the doctor, if in 2016, 56,000 doctors worked in Romania, meaning an average of 280 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, that is, well below the European average from that time, at present Romania is closer to the European average, with 72,000 doctors, ie 370 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants.
“Medical Deserts” in Romania
Although Romania has managed to retain over 16,000 doctors over the last 8 years, the major problem remains their unequal distribution at national level, says the specialist.
“Bucharest is very well represented, with almost 1,000 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, and the university centers, such as Timiș, Iașul, Cluj, Mureșul, Doljul, are well represented, with a number of doctors almost double compared to the European average, which is 440 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants. chosen around Bucharest: Giurgiu, Călărași, Ialomița, Teleorman, Prahova, with three times lower than the European average ”he says.
He adds that Romanian patients are forced to travel to these university centers, to find their treatments there, which leads to real accessibility problems and weaker indicators in the area of health.
“In Bucharest, for example, more than 50 percent of patients treated in hospitals have home outside the capital,” adds the doctor.
