In a new statement, the Minister of Health made a series of announcements regarding the solutions that the Romanian authorities are looking for for one of the biggest problems the health system is currently facing, and which affects many Romanians.
The Minister of Health talks about the problem of patients being sent by doctors from public clinics and hospitals to private ones for investigations and interventions, the authorities looking for solutions for this huge problem of the health system that affects millions of Romanians every year.
"We must very clearly define, or eliminate, conflicts of interest, I think this is the first thing. The conflict of interest, that is, a patient who is received in the public area and referred to the private area, where the same person practices, this is an obvious conflict of interest, and we must find resources to eliminate this type of conflict of interest.
Either through legislation, or through education, through the involvement of professional organizations, this could be achieved. Sure, it's easy to say, maybe it's harder to put into practice. I still cannot believe that a man is unkind when he works in the public sector, and he is very nice, very kind when he works in the private sector.
I think that even a doctor who behaves badly in the public sector and directs his patient to the private sector, I don't think he is successful, I doubt that there is one... It's a debate, it's complex, there are sanitary systems that also have this provision, in which things are completely separated. Considering the need for access to medical services, the need for health professionals, it would probably be difficult to make such a decision in Romania.
I think that, from the point of view of legislation, we can help and improve the avoidance of these conflicts of interest, either through financing mechanisms for medical services, or through certain procedures that limit such possibilities in which, for example, a the patient is hospitalized and investigated in a public hospital, after which he goes for an intervention in the private area.
We need to find a solution so that the private area has certain very clear responsibilities regarding the management of the patient, and the costs that may arise in case of complications that they should solve, not to send the patient back to the public area. "
