Romanian doctor lists the realities of the country’s medical system: “Bigger salaries haven’t stopped bribery in hospitals; Doctors are suffocated by bureaucracy”

Newsroom 14/01/2019 | 12:58

Romanian doctor Vasi Radulescu posted on Facebook a list of things that have not changed in Romania’s medical system following the recent attempts by authorities to improve conditions for patients and doctors.

Radulescu is a cardiologist and the fonder of a medical education website with health-related articles written by doctors for the general public.

His post reads:

“What hasn’t changed in the medical system:

  • Big salaries haven’t changed a thing in terms of bribery;
  • Residents continue to be humiliated – see the recent story in Craiova, where only specialists and primary doctors would get free meals during their shifts; residents had to pay for their food;
  • Incredible hubris and tough fights for hierarchies are about the same;
  • Doctor-patient communications has a multitude of issues and no official wants to improve things through special training modules;
  • Emergency rooms are still in chaos;
  • Medical school teaches you how to memorise two entire books for the residency exam;
  • The residency exam is a total nonsense, and those who are able to memorise the most information get the most points;
  • Small towns are in trenches, with gruesome hospitals, except for a few places where extraordinary managers have done wonderful things;
  • Big cities are oversaturated with doctors, because they don’t want to go to smaller towns with precarious conditions after they trained in relatively well-equipped hospitals;
  • Doctors are suffocated by bureaucracy;
  • Medical education is inexistent and we wonder why so many myths catch on among the general population;
  • There’s chaos when it comes to vaccines; and nothing has been done for HPV;
  • Regional hospitals have been pushed back till after 2020 and the projects will probably be delayed again and again;
  • People are dying in both the state and public systems – we hear stories that terrify us but we quickly forget about them;
  • We don’t learn from our mistakes;
  • Primary medicine is insufficiently developed, financed, supported, even though the family doctors should be the most important ones in the country;
  • There are more and more “doctors” who practice therapies that are far removed from real science, and they only do it for money;
  • Obesity is exploding, we’re champions in terms of cardiovascular disease, even though 80 percent of cases are preventable through nutrition and physical activity, and there aren’t any prevention or education programmes;
  • We rank first in terms of the number of new cases and mortality for cervical cancer, avoidable through HPV vaccination;
  • Some have a terrible hate for doctors who want to engage in medical education and fight fake news and dangerous charlatans;
  • Hate is also present between doctors themselves, even though we should help each other and change things for the better.”
BR Magazine | Latest Issue

Download PDF: Business Review Magazine March (II) 2024 Issue

The March (II) 2024 issue of Business Review Magazine is now available in digital format, featuring the main cover story titled “BAT DBS Romania Hub: A Vibrant New Office For An Employee-Centric
Newsroom | 27/03/2024 | 17:32
Advertisement Advertisement
Close ×

We use cookies for keeping our website reliable and secure, personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to analyse how our website is used.

Accept & continue