Doctors for Romania launch a free online support for the patients with chronic illnesses

In full COVID-19 pandemia, the patients with chronic illnesses are facing difficulties in accessing the medical practices even they need the specialists’ help, all through this period of time. In order to come in their help, the project Medici pentru Romania (Doctors for Romania) launched the campaign „Nu uitam de ceilalti” (We don’t forget about the others), through which doctors in Romania, but also from the diaspora, are offering free online help for the patients with chronic illnesses.

The project Medici pentru Romania was initiated October last year by Andrei Baciu (cardiovascular surgeon), Sebastian Burduja (social entrepreneur), Alexandru Costache (social entrepreneur) and Victor Costache (cardiovascular surgeon), later on being joined by Dragos Preda (social entrepreneur), Sorina Stroe (dentist) and Victor Juganaru (resident doctor).

Therefore, the volunteer doctors will offer free online counseling for the patients that need help, through the platform www.medicipentruromania.ro. Everything will be online, therefore there isn’t necessary the home visit. Each session will take 15 minutes and will be done by online appointments. The help excludes the urgencies, for these situations the patients should call 112.

„We want to transmit the doctors all our admiration for the work done in the treating of the patients that need so much their support in this difficult time. The Romanian health system is at full speed and COVID-19 mobilizes all the attention and the resources. We are conscious of the fact that there are a lot of people, with other medical problems, that need us during this period of time. (….) We use this opportunity to invite as many doctors as possible to join our initiative of offering the necessary help to those in need. It is necessary that we adapt to the present situation, but also to the manner in which the medical activity in Romania will take place in the future,” said Alexandru Costache, the program’s initiator.

The program proposes itself to cover services in specialties such as: cardiology, geriatrics, psychiatry, neurology, plastic surgery, peds, nutrition and diabetes, dermatology, gynecology, hematology, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, dentistry, ORL, family medicine.

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The advantages of the online consultations are multiple:

• The patients can openly and confidentially talk, through video conference, with a professional.
• They have access to very good doctors in Romania and abroad, from the comfort of their house
• The risk of explosion to the coronavirus is eliminated
• It reduces the pressure from the emergency rooms and the consultation cabinets.
• The services are free

„The exodus of the medical staff is the biggest problem the Romanian health system is confronting itself with. We are facing a paradoxical phenomenon: Romania teaches an important number of medical graduates, the school is good, renowned internationally, but we are among the countries with the lowest number of doctors per a thousand of people. We don’t succeed in enjoying the medical services they offer because the young doctors are leaving the country. The saddest thing is that not only the young ones leave, but also the high specialized doctors in surgery, ATI, gynecology, cardiology, peds. Alongside their exodus, the sub-financing of the health system, the deficient infrastructure, the lack of financing for the prevention and screening programs are problems that directly impact the patients,” added Alexandru Costache.

Moreover, according to him, in the last year over 20.000 Romanian doctors left the country and in present one doctor has, in average, 345 patients.