The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete, explained the reasons why the first day of sick leave is no longer paid, but also why exceptions to this rule were introduced. As he has repeatedly stated, the measure is aimed at combating fictitious sick leave. All chronic patients in the national health programs, pregnant women and people who need day hospitalization will continue to benefit from the payment of the first day of sick leave.
Alexandru Rogobete claimed that the phenomenon of fictitious medical leaves is a large one and has been ignored for a long time, due to lack of political courage. The minister specified that, according to the analyzes carried out at the level of the Ministry of Health, there is “several million fictitious sick leaves”which costs the state between 1 and 1.5 billion lei annually.
“After the summer measures, the checks that have been carried out since the summer and have not stopped, the number of medical leaves has decreased significantly and there has been a saving in the Health budget of 120 million lei per month, on average”, said the minister, during a show on B1 TV.
Rogobete pointed out that almost 10% of the national health budget went to this area, money that, he says, was taken “from the mouth of the sick” to cover invented sick leaves. The minister specified that the measure of non-payment of the first day of sick leave was thought as a tool to reduce fraud, not as a general sanction.
“Speaking plastically, it is money that we take from the mouth of the sick, to move it to the invented vacations of some. This phenomenon, which was ignored out of indolence, carelessness, the fear of not agitating the spirits, matured and we reached a point where it could no longer continue”. added Rogobete.
Who will still have the first day of paid sick leave
The Minister of Health explained that the ordinance adopted in December will be nuanced so that it does not affect people with serious medical problems, where good faith cannot be questioned.
“This measure obviously needs to be nuanced. When we talk about cancer, a pregnant woman or a rare disease, obviously we are not talking about a fictitious sick leave. The target was to reduce fraud, not to affect everyone. This is what this OUG does, which is transparent on the website of the Ministry of Health – it comes to nuance and reduce the measure of non-payment of the first day of leave where it cannot be doubted that someone is trying to defraud the system or to benefit from a fictitious sick leave. Example: cancer, patients undergoing radiotherapy, chemotherapy, those with thalassemia or rare diseases, pregnant women…”, stated Alexandru Rogobete.
Thus, chronic patients included in the national health programs, cancer patients undergoing treatments such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy, people with rare diseases or thalassemia, pregnant women, as well as patients who require day hospitalization will continue to benefit from the payment of the first day of medical leave.
The minister also stated that, following the controls, “fines on top of fines” were applied in cases where it was found that fictitious medical leaves had been granted.
Alexandru Rogobete is of the opinion that, with the significant reduction of this phenomenon, the measure of non-payment of the first day of medical leave could be temporary and eliminated in the future.
