Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu wants to hire 4,500 doctors

The Ministry of Health together with the Ministry of Development and the Ministry of Finance will start the steps to unlock 4500 positions in the sanitary-medical units in the territory, for resident doctors who passed the exam at the end of last year, the Prime Minister said yesterday, at the beginning of the government meeting Marcel Ciolacu.

The Head of Government said: "Also as a priority at the beginning of the year, I want to quickly solve the problem of resident doctors, who passed the specialty exam at the end of last year. There are approximately 4,500 doctors in whom the Romanian state has invested hundreds of millions of euros, and we must ensure that we keep them in the country. That is why, in the next period, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Development must update the lists of vacant positions and submit to the government a memorandum to put them out for competition. I also ask the Ministry of Finance to cooperate so that this happens quickly."

The Prime Minister's statement follows the contradictory discussions of the last few days between the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, and the Minister of Finance, Marcel Boloş.

The latter stated that he does not agree with more employment in the health system, stating that there are already 16,000 doctors, although in reality there are more than 55,000 doctors, and another 5,000 are to become specialist doctors. The statements of the Minister of Finance take place in the context in which the state wants to reduce budget expenditures in the current year and approved at the end of last year an emergency ordinance by which employment in the public system is blocked, with some exceptions that will be approved by Government memorandum .

Marcel Boloş stated: "We have 16,000 doctors in the medical system, and the request was to organize contests for half of them. There was a clear disproportion between the need for positions in the medical system, but also in the education system, and everywhere there is this disproportion to the total number of doctors and professionals. For the year 2024, there is no need for a memorandum, if the positions become vacant as a result of leaving the system. Practically, the novelty in the system that appears is this: if a post has been released in his place, he can be hired without a memorandum, in compliance with legal procedures".

In response, Alexandru Rafila, the Minister of Health, said: "Hospitals requested these positions to cover their personnel requirements. They respond to a standard, they are not invented. If they are unoccupied, we must find a solution to fill them through the competition. If the memorandum is the solution, through the memorandum, if there are vacancies this year, they can be put out to tender without a memorandum, there is no problem. At least in the field of medicine, we must have 3,000 or 4,000 specialists coming out of the school. We must keep these doctors in Romania. If there is availability to work in Romania, the solution is to put the positions out to competition".

The Minister of Health stated that young doctors must work in Romania and every opportunity must be used to keep them in the country.