Letter to the Romanian Parliament and public authorities on the modification of the law on the organization of the Romanian College of Physicians

Letter to the Romanian Parliament and Romanian public authorities regarding the modification of the law on the organization of the Romanian College of Physicians:

”The undersigned European Medical Organisations take note of the legal changes affecting the elections for the governing bodies of the Romanian College of Physicians. It is our understanding that 25 years after the re-establishment of the Romanian College of Physicians, with a system of universal free elections of the governing bodies, the Romanian Parliament initiated, without any prior consultation of physicians, a law to modify the elections in the College whereby physicians’ vote is segregated into 4 categories: medical specialties, surgical, paraclinical and family medicine, although in Romania the last one is a clinical medical specialty. Representation in the governing bodies is set at 25% for each category, although the actual proportion of specialties in the register of physicians is completely different: at national level medical specialties without family medicine represent 40% of all doctors, surgical specialties 17%, paraclinical specialties 9% and family doctors 25%; with the remaining 9% being residents and doctors with limited scope of practice. However, there are wide variations from county to county and these percentages cannot apply to all, let alone an arbitrary 25% allocation to each segregated category. We understand that following the return of the law by the President of Romania to the Parliament, the Senate of the Parliament proposed greater freedom to elect across categories, but the result of the election is still limited at the same proportion of 25% of each category in 33 counties out of 42.

This law will profoundly affect the ability of the Romanian College of Physicians to represent physicians in negotiations with the insurance system and towards the health administration. These are roles conferred by law, but which will become a mere formality, since the persons “elected” through this mechanism will not have real representativeness but an arbitrary and conferred one by the Parliament. The European Medical Organisations expresses deep concern regarding reforms to healthcare system without consulting and listening to the physicians, in particular where this affects the autonomy and self-regulation of the profession in its free and independent representation. We support the Romanian College of Physicians in its call for the rejection of segregation by specialty categories for the elections to its governing bodies, and the maintenance of the existing law. We believe this respects the unity of professional interests, which allow universal democratic elections and the possibility for every physician to actively and passively exercise his or her right to vote, i.e., to vote for and be voted for by all members of the profession, as a fundamental principle of democracy. We call on the authorities and politicians not to force changes in times of health and economic crisis without consulting and respecting the opinion of medical professionals, at the risk of undermining autonomy and the self-regulation of the medical profession and the quality of healthcare and patient safety”.