The Romanian Academic Society (SAR) yesterday hosted a debate on the state of the public health care system in Romania, whose current annual budget is the smallest in the last nine years.
A recent report by the Society was the basis for a debate among the leading players on the Romanian pharmaceutical market, who came to the conclusion that there was no funding left for medicines or medical services in the last three months of the year. Moreover, the public health care budget for this year is 30 per cent lower than last year, primarily because of a reduction in the quota of the GDP from 4.2 per cent in 2008 to 3.2 per cent in 2009.
Despite circulating information that the price of pharmaceutical products is going to decrease, the Romanian Academic Society does not believe that this is the part of the overall budget that can generate savings, as medicines account for less than 25 per cent of the public health care budget, whereas subsidized medicines account for 7-8 per cent of the budget. Although spending can be optimized in this area, too, inefficiency is much greater in other parts of the public health care system.