The number of sick leave in 2022 decreased by 12% compared to 2021, but remains high, says Health Minister Alexandru Rafila. The minister said on a show on Prima TV on Saturday that “there are concerns” about “keeping this phenomenon” of medical leave under control because “we are talking about a lot of public money being paid out”.

• “There are also fake documents, any such activity leads to the emergence of situations where legality is not observed.”
• “I will tell you what the evolution of sick leave was: during the pandemic, it increased quite a lot, and this was normal, because sick leave was given not only to a sick person, but also to parents who have a sick child. There were some provisions that led to increase the number of sick days. This phenomenon ceased in 2022; in 2022, the number of sick people, compared to the year before, decreased by 12%, and in terms of the number of sick people, we are approaching the pre-pandemic level.”
• “But in general, the number of sick leave is high and there are several explanations for this. One concerns doctors who prescribe sick leave. Most are prescribed to people who need a vacation to restore health. I think that a mechanism that is more strict about certain people who are seen to regularly write a very large number of sick days, I think that the control mechanism and the National Board of Health Insurance has the right to do such things.
• “There are various financial options that discourage the desire to claim sick leave. In France, for example, the first day of sick leave is not paid. (…) It is clear that we have to keep this phenomenon under control, because we are talking about large public money that is being paid. This does not mean that we should go to the other extreme, by any means ban the granting of medical leave to people who really need it,” Aleksandru Rafila said on Prima TV’s Insider Politic show, as quoted by News.ro.

He emphasized that at the level of the Ministry of Health, as well as at the level of the National Health Service, “there are concerns” about “keeping this phenomenon under control” of sick leave.

The law was recently passed by the parliament

The Chamber of Deputies adopted on Wednesday as a decision-making body a draft law on amendments to the Labor Code, according to which employees who care for children under the age of 11 can use flexible working hours. Thus, they will have the opportunity to work at home four days a month. The law is proclaimed.

Doru Dima, a human resources specialist, in a discussion about the law that allows parents to take leave to care for a sick child, said that this would lead to abuse and clarified that his employees also, when their children have health problems, stay at home and have time off to take care of them. He also asked how many sick leaves were issued “for real” and how one could check how many of them were genuine.

In recent years, the number of hospitalizations in Romania has almost halved

The number of hospitalizations recorded nationally has decreased over the past four to five years by about 40%, according to figures presented by the health minister on Prima TV on Saturday. Alexandru Rafila claims that, on the other hand, the number of day hospitalizations has increased significantly.

“We looked at the numbers and the number of hospitalizations in Romania has decreased, compared to four or five years ago, there were almost 4 million, now we have 2.1 million, so the number of hospitalizations has decreased significantly. Day hospitalizations have increased significantly. A person goes to the hospital, receives treatment or is examined and leaves. But we have a very big growth,” Alexandrou Rafila said on Prima TV.

The minister emphasized the need to increase the attractiveness of outpatient services, showing that the opening of outpatient centers can lead to timely diagnosis of some diseases and their effective treatment.

(Article photo: © Ngampol Thongsai | Dreamstime.com)