Romania’s aging pool of physicians

“It will be politicians who will treat us, those who ordered the health budget to be reduced, and generated a massive migration of physicians abroad. Of the 6,000 physicians who left in the past three years, 80 percent are young doctors, under 40. Unless measures are taken, we will have a very serious problem in seven-eight years,” Vasile Astărăstoaie, President of the College of Physicians in Romania, told Business Standard.

The official indicated that the specialist physician deficit is felt especially in rural areas, but also in cities that are university centres, in spite of the fact that there are three times more physicians here than the national average.

According to data provided by Cegedim, a pharmaceutical market analysis and consultancy company, the domestic health system functions with only 34 percent of the average necessary medical staff. Romania has only 2.3 physicians per 1,000 inhabitants, compared to the 6.8 percent average in the European Union.

“The Romanian medical staff is undersized. In order to reach the European Union average in terms of physicians per 1,000 inhabitants, the number of Romanian specialists must almost triple, and the number of pharmacists should be supplemented by one third,” said Petru Crăciun, General Manager of Cegedim.

A young cardiology resident, S.G., who worked abroad, and had completed half of his residency, said he has not decided whether to remain abroad or return to Romania.

“The low level of salaries, the under-financing of the medical system, and the difficulty of finding a job in a hospital after finishing one’s residency are probably the main problems that young physicians are facing,” he said.

S.G. added that he earns six times more abroad that he would in Romania.