Health Minister Alexandra Rafila considers it “unacceptable” and “unbearable” that medical personnel receive money for providing medical services. He says that patients can express their gratitude to the doctors who treated them by giving them flowers or candy, and believes that there needs to be a campaign on this topic among both patients and employees of the system.

“This is absolutely unacceptable. I am very clear because I personally – and this has nothing to do with my qualities as a minister, it has to do with my qualities as a doctor and as a person – I do not think there is any excuse for the medical staff, the doctors, the nurses or the nursing staff , which demand material benefits or money in exchange for medical services. It should be categorical for everyone who works in the health care system, it should be an obvious rule. We cannot and do not have any moral and ethical motivation, as you wish, I do not want to go into aspects of a criminal nature (…) but we have a conscience, nevertheless, and we are educated and responsible as the people that we are we work in the health care system. This is unacceptable,” Alexandru Rafila said on the Insider Politic show, which aired on Prima Tv on Saturday.

He noted that he highly appreciated the position of the board of doctors on this issue.

The minister also mentioned the initiative of some patients who feel “safer” if they offer doctors “attention”, noting that it could be flowers or a box of chocolates. He believes that society should “gain the courage” to discuss these issues.

“I believe that this gratitude of the patient should be discussed publicly and I believe that an educational campaign is needed so that the population understands that this gratitude is not necessary – that the greatest gratitude for a doctor is that your patient has recovered and he is satisfied with the medical services received – and campaign for medical personnel. I don’t want to make some kind of comparison with other spheres of activity, talking about how to legally regulate such a situation, but probably something like that can be reached at some point,” Rafila adds.

• The head of oncology in Suceava allegedly received bribes from cancer patients every 10-15 minutes – prosecutor’s office

• Terrible details from the dossier of Suceava’s oncology manager who demanded bribes from patients / Double “tariff” for a patient with two types of cancer

He emphasizes that he is not making a comparison with the legalization of tipping, pointing out that medical practice is “very different from restaurant service” and that “such comparisons are dangerous to make.”

President of the College of Doctors from Romania prof. Dr. Daniel Koriou clarified regarding the case of the head of the oncology department of the district hospital, who was arrested for 30 days for receiving a bribe, that stipulating “medical action with an unofficial payment is an unacceptable practice” and indicates that now doctors have high salaries and have no reason to accept unofficial payments. “The Romanian College of Doctors promotes a correct relationship between doctor and patient, based on trust and mutual respect,” Coriu said. (source: news.ro)