The National Health Insurance Institute (CNAS) aims to assess the health status of the population. The president of CNAS, Valeria Herdea, conveyed that we cannot talk about a large number of medical leaves, but about the fact that “the population is indeed sick“.
The state of health of Romanians, evaluated by CNAS – Photo Archive
Valeria Herdea, the head of CNAS, announced that she wants to make an assessment of the health status of the population. She mentioned that the population is sick, but that “we are recovering after the pandemic“.
“On average, we cannot talk about a very large number of sick leaves, but about the fact that there is a state of illness, of morbidity, as we call it, the population is really sick and we have to think about this aspect, that's why we want to make an assessment of the health status of the population. 2022 had 4 million 124 thousand holidays, now we have 3 million and 361 thousand. It is essential to understand that we are approaching morbidity, the disease state we detected in 2019. We are recovering from the pandemic“, stated Valeria Herdea, president of CNAS.
Valeria Herdea explained why most medical leaves were taken, namely oncological diseases, diseases related to pregnancy or prenatal leaves, health problems of the mother and child, degenerative osteoarticular diseases, non-communicable chronic diseases and intercurrent diseases. Moreover, the CNAS president emphasized the importance of medical leave, which allows “faster healing of the patient“.
“When you have a patient in front of you, you recommend a hygienic-dietary regimen, that is, a diet that includes rest, because it is known that the rest period facilitates healing.“, she also said.
Record number of oncological patients in Romania
The President of CNAS stated on Monday that there are over 200,000 oncological patients in Romania, which is “dramatically for the health status of a population“, according to Agerpres.
“Unfortunately, we have 207,722 cancer patients and also unfortunately we have 2,700 children and I'm talking about minor children suffering from these oncological conditionswhich is dramatic for the health of a population“, she said.
According to the CNAS president, medical leaves will be paid in stages.
“Medical leaves will be paid in installments because they cannot be done otherwise. We pay a percentage every month to be able to spread over the whole year, in agreement with the Ministry of Finance“, claimed the CNAS president.
Moreover, the assessment made at the level of family doctors' offices is at the end and it was found “less than 1% slips“, after the verification of family doctors was done on a sample basis. This is because these medical leaves were a reason for discussions in the Government. Alexandru Rafila, the Minister of Health, said last week that there are family doctors who issue a large number of medical leaves and that they should be checked to see to what extent the leaves are justified by reality. And Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was dissatisfied with the conditions for which medical leaves are given. The Prime Minister stated that 274,000 medical leaves were given for pain back and 187,000 sneeze and cold leaves.
However, Valeria Herdea emphasized that the number of medical leaves granted in 2023 was lower than in 2022.
She announced that at the CNAS level, starting from March 1, a communication campaign will be launched to patients in such a way that everyone understands that an insured person has “rights and obligations“.
“The right to medical service also means the obligation to visit your family doctor in such a way that you can help him. This is done in all civilized countries and I think that the Western European model can be adopted here as well“, claimed the CNAS president.
