Premiere in Romania! Within the Timișoara County Emergency Hospital, the first integrated obesity management center in a state hospital was opened. And no 24 hours after working, the reception of medical unit almost no longer cope with phones from patients who want an appointment.
6 out of 10 Romanians are overweight or obese. Archive
“And the phones and the email address are taken by assault. He told “Adevărul” Prof. Dr. Dorel Săndesc, the manager of the hospital unit. “The people found out, they addressed the family doctors, they received recommendations, tickets and are already scheduled for us for diagnosis and treatment. the manager also explained.
The patient’s path from diagnosis to treatment
The Obesity Management Center within the Timisoara County Emergency Hospital is not in a separate building, as it would be. “It is a special outpatient area on the ground floor of the main building. Basically, the obesity patient will come to the ambulatory center on the ground floor of the main building, there will be registered and enter the program ”, explains Prof. Dr. Dorel Săndesc.
Before, however, the patient must be presented to the family doctor’s office in order to obtain a reference from him. Then, for programming at the center, call the phone number displayed on the hospital’s website or writes on the e-mail address for online appointments. “On the day of programming, it is presented at the hospital, enter the main building, and on the right side, on the ground floor, it will find the ambulatory of diabetes, nutrition and metabolic diseases. of analysis, maybe they need to be seen by other doctors, may need imaging services, etc.“, Stated Dr. Săndesc.
The patient’s path is followed by the case navigator. “The case navigator supervises the patient’s circuit. He is a resident doctor who helps him with the schedules and aims to perform these medical consultations. In the end, the patient returns to the case manager who will prescribe a treatment appropriate to his health ”, Dr. Săndesc continues.
It should be noted that the treatment of obesity is not only done by a single procedure. “These patients will need a complex treatment, because for this pathology there is not only one solution.
Prof. Dr. Dorel Săndesc, manager of the County Hospital in Timisoara. Archive
Advantages: free, simple and very fast. Doctor: “I eliminated bureaucracy”
The advantage is that this program is free. “Then, once entered the system, the patient goes through all the stages without the need for other referral tickets from the family doctor. For example, the patient needs to be seen by a cardiologist and an ophthalmologist. He will be directed to these specialists from the hospital without having to submit. It is so saved for a long time ”.
And if a patient needs to be admitted, he will be admitted there in the same hospital building. “And those who require surgery will be directed to the surgery sections of the same hospital.
Who can address the Obesity Center in Timisoara
Any person over the age of 18, who holds a health card, is registered with a family doctor and has a reference from it can benefit from the medical services offered by the hospital in Timisoara.
The manager of the medical unit told us that the center will probably face an overcrowding. “Many patients who will not be in a serious condition will be presented here. patient and will decide the need for specialized consultations. It will practically filter all cases. However, I think it is useful for people to come to us regardless of the severity of the problem they face. “ The reason? Any person with excess weight can receive some treatment recommendations that will prevent him to reach an advanced phase. “We will try to receive and treat all those who will address our center.
The idea of such a center has existed for almost two years, Prof. Dr. Săndesc told us. “Here is the difference between those who launch ideas and those who have the tenacity to implement them. PNRR funds on all the levels where we were eligible. I didn’t miss anything and I won them all. “
The doctor told us that for this center of treatment of obesity it was not necessary to access external funds, because any hospital can have such an initiative. It is, rather, a well -developed internal organization. “If you have a well-developed outpatient, which has several specialties, then you can use it by ensuring such a program.
Romania, in the first place in Europe at the number of obese people
Professor Bogdan Timar, dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Timisoara and the head of the Clinical Diabetes, Nutrition, Metabolic Diseases of the Hospital, explained that this center responds to a need that contemporary medicine has. “Namely to provide integrated care to people with obesity and overponents. Why do these things say? Because at the moment we are witnessing a dramatic increase in the prevalence of obesity, estimating in our country that about 70% of adults live with oversight or obesity, so here is a very high percentage. In terms of obesity care, unfortunately we know that the person who has obesity has not only obesity, but has multiple complications or comorbidities associated with this obesity, from the cardiological, endocrinological sphere, from the gastroenterological sphere, so that this person with obesity is seen by all this specialists. In fact, the integrated obesity management center puts in common the resources that our hospital has and for the first time in the public health system in Romania offers these care in the same place ”says Dr. Timar.
According to the World Health Organization, obesity affects more and more people, including in Romania, where we have the highest percentage of obese people throughout Europe.
