Romania faces the mass layoff of doctors who complain about the lack of protective measures in their work to treat patients and contain the spread of the new coronavirus. This Monday, the President announced the extension of the state of emergency for another month.
The spread of the new coronavirus exposed the weaknesses of the Romanian health system and among health professionals, frustration is growing. A report by Le Monde gives an account of “mass” layoffs among doctors, enraged by the pressure placed on their shoulders and the lack of means to stop the pandemic in the country, which already counts 4057 confirmed infections and 157 deaths.
“To demand that we fight against the virus without ensuring minimum protection is criminal,” said doctor Camelia Roiu, who works in a hospital in Bucharest, to the French daily. About a quarter of the more than 4,000 infected with covid-19 in Romania are doctors or nurses.
Prime Minister Ludovic Orban recently asked the medical community to respect “the Hippocratic oath” and said there were two options for dealing with the layoffs – the number of which has since been released by the government. “We can prohibit doctors who resign from returning to practice in Romania or give them advance notice with time for reflection. The first, extreme, is easier to put into practice, but we need every doctor and every nurse, ”said Orban.
In order to face the epidemic, the President, Klaus Iohannis, decided to prolong the state of emergency that expired this week. “People should realize that without this measure, the virus cannot be stopped,” said Iohannis.
The peak of the epidemic is yet to come. In a country where hospital conditions are poor and has one of the lowest rates of medical density in the European Union, many fear a collapse in health services.
Romania has less than 300 doctors per 100,000 population, according to Eurostat data for 2017, the third lowest number in the EU. In recent years, thousands of health professionals have moved from Romania to other European countries, such as France, Germany or the United Kingdom, where wages are higher. The Government estimates that in the last decade around 25 thousand doctors and nurses have left the country.
To contain this trend, the Government approved a 50% increase in doctors’ salaries in 2018. The President also asked the executive to find a way to allocate a monthly premium of 500 euros to all doctors working in the front line against covid. -19, reports the Le Monde.
