Ombudsman: Amendments to liberalization of national health programs should be debated under ordinary legislative procedure

The Ombudsman believes that the changes made to the healthcare system regarding the liberalization of national health programs should be debated through ordinary legislative procedure. "The Ombudsman considers that the amendments proposed by the Ordinance to amend and supplement Law No. 95/2006 on health reform should be debated in the ordinary legislative procedure, by debate and vote in Romania's Parliament. The draft normative act contains, in the opinion of the Ombudsman, a note of cursory explanatory memorandum and does not present any impact study to evaluate its economic-financial and social effects," reads a release of the Ombudsman. On the other hand, through the changes made, it is intended to include all private providers within the national health programs, without taking into account the capacity and services offered by the public health system, namely the conditions offered by the private providers. In this respect, the Ombudsman considers that, through the different procurement and management procedures in the two areas, a substantial gap will be created in attracting the funds destined for national health programs between the public system and private providers, with the risk of the public system being depreciated, a fact that may lead to the impossibility of the state to fulfill its constitutional obligation to ensure public hygiene and health. The Ombudsman considers that, in the context of the total inclusion of private providers in the field of national health programs, it would be appropriate to implement a patient information system regarding the medical units that provide the necessary services, costs, waiting times and the conditions related to these services, thus ensuring the informed decision of the patients regarding the choice between the existing offers. AGERPRES (RO - author: Iulia Carciog, editor: Georgiana Tănăsescu; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi, editor: Simona Iacob)