Romanian family doctors ask for president’s help in dispute with the authorities

Several organizations representing family doctors in Romania sent a letter to president Klaus Iohannis yesterday asking for his help in their dispute with the National Health Insurance House – CNAS and the Health Ministry. They complain about the improper funding of the primary care system in Romania and say that the money allotted to this sector doesn’t cover the functioning costs. Family doctors stopped providing free services to patients on January 3 to protests against the system’s underfunding. They do not issue medical referral to specialty doctors and prescriptions for compensated drugs. Meanwhile, the National Health Insurance House announced yesterday that some 75% of the family doctors in Romania have signed the extension of their contracts with the institution, which means that they will continue to provide services paid for by the state. CNAS also announced that the deadline for signing the extensions expired yesterday and the doctors who haven’t signed yet would only have temporary contracts for three months. The family doctor organizations said that the institution’s decision was illegal and deprived some 4.5 million Romanians of primary care services. editor@romania-insider.com