Romanian Govt. doubles fines for not complying with public health standards

The Government has approved a decision by which it doubles the value of the fines that sanitary inspectors can levy for non-compliance with public health standards.

The measure was needed “to make the healthcare personal, in both sanitary units and private practices, more responsible with respect to following health standards,” health minister Sorina Pintea explained, quoted by News.ro.

Higher fines can be applied for not checking the disinfection equipment; not storing sterile and single-use items in the right conditions; not complying with the norms regarding the use of biocide products and medical devices; not knowing and not enforcing the sterilization techniques and procedures; not providing sterile water to operating rooms and delivery rooms; not complying with the hygiene measures in the program for supervising, preventing and controlling infections associated with medical assistance; not reporting infections; not ensuring the anti-epidemic measures; not providing and maintaining hygiene on the premises of medical units. The fines for individuals not following the emergency and firs-aid norms also increased.

As such, fines of up to RON 3,000 (EUR 632) for individuals and up to RON 30,000 (EUR 6,316) for institutions can now be applied for not complying with protocols in the area of patient transfers or for admitting non-urgent cases. Before, the fines ranged in between RON 500 (EUR 105) and RON 1,500 (EUR 316) for individuals and in between RON 10,000 (EUR 2,105) and RON 15,000 (EUR 3,157) for institutions.

At the same time, the fines for individuals not enforcing the needed measures to prevent the spread of transmissible diseases also doubled to in between RON 2,000 (EUR 421) and RON 6,000 (EUR 1,263), while those for institutions now range between RON 7,000 (EUR 1,473) and RON 10,000 (EUR 2,222).

New sanctions have been introduced for the granting of medical assistance by unauthorized or non-certified personnel, for not following the medical practice protocols, for not having the needed medical supplies, for not following the standards imposed by the running authorization, or for not following the ethics code of the medical profession.

Last year, sanitary inspectors performed 13,400 checks and gave fines totaling RON 1.6 million (almost EUR 350,000).

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