The summit brought together the most important actors in the healthcare industry, from private and public hospital managers to insurers and representatives of the authorities of the sector.
ZF organized the event in partnership with Sanador, Ionescu si Sava, Bondoc si Asociatii law firms, GSK, Terapia, Pfizer, Antibiotice Iasi, Farmexpert, ADRFR (Association of Pharmaceutical Distributors and Retailers in Romania), Deloitte, Ana Hotels Europa and La Fantana.
“Out of EUR6 billion spent on public procurement in the healthcare sector, EUR3 billion go towards direct purchase of medical supplies and consumables, which can be suspected as being direct agreements between the buyer and the operator,” said Bogdan Puscas, chairman of the National Agency for Public Procurement.
The figure shows how serious the squandering of public funds is in the healthcare sector in the absence of a policy to make public procurement transparent.
This is not the only problem of the Romanian healthcare sector, though. The lack of state-of-the-art equipment in public hospitals, as well as the migration of physicians abroad due to the low salaries and working conditions are yet more problems that need to be addressed, the speakers at the event said. The solutions are only theoretical, as there are no mechanisms in place to fix all the problems in the system.
“(…), I think the main problem is the government’s administrative capability to deliver investments, to deliver new hospitals, to have a strategy for the human resources, to ensure the necessary drugs, the inexpensive ones at least, to ensure quality in the medical system in general, be it primary care, outpatient or inpatient care,” said Health minister Vlad Voiculescu.
Although the National Health Insurance House (CNAS) budget reached 26 billion lei (EUR5.84 billion) this year, 50% more than in 2011, this does not show in the condition of hospitals and quality of the medical services. Most hospitals throughout the country are still asking patients to buy the needed supplies to get treatment.
Gheorghe Radu Tibichi, CNAS chairman, however, says, “There is no hospital in Romania that cannot insure a minimum of material expenditures using the CNAS budget. CNAS operates with an overhead of 1% of the funds collected.”
The reality, however, shows that many hospitals do not have enough supplies and consumables and do poorly in terms of cleanliness.
Asked about the criteria used to evaluate the quality of service in hospitals, Vasile Cepoi, chairman of the National Authority for Management of Quality in Healthcare, said he had a list of 2,000 criteria but did not specify even the most important of them.
Very few patients, however, have access to care in private hospitals, where conditions are better and a solution to that is private medical insurance.
Insurance companies have launched individual and corporate health insurance policies and expect two-digit growth in the sales thereof.
“We are talking about a market that is headed towards one million people who benefit from prevention and care packages. I think medical subscriptions and health insurance can coexist,” said Fady Chreih, chief executive officer of private healthcare provider Regina Maria.
The top five actors on the private healthcare market – MedLife, Regina Maria, Medicover, Sanador and Gral, posted about RON1.3 billion revenue together last year, according to ZF’s calculations. The private healthcare market stands at about RON6 billion. Only 4% of the patients committed last year were treated in private hospitals, though. (EUR1=RON4.4488)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)