Buyout of SMURD "is impossible"

The president pointed out that SMURD is part of the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations and the employees are firemen, which means that it is a militarised unit that cannot be privatised.

Traian Basescu noted that SMURD "is a system created and financed by the Romanian government, which can be lead by a man or another".

According to the president, the new health bill is not aimed at the privatisation of the emergency service. The only purpose is to encourage the competition by applyinh the principle that the money from health insurance must be given to those "who come first to the patient".

Băsescu specified that the new health bill should be passed by the end of the parliamentary session in summer.

According to the president, the new law is necessary because the current medical system is not functioning properly.

"In 2000, the budget of the Ministry of Health was about 1 billion euro, in 2011 it exceeded 5 billion euro, and the result is a lack of performance", the president stated.

The health bill is under public debate and is posted on the website of the Ministry of Health and the one of the presidential administration.

So far only the emergency medical service issue has been debated, although the bill provides important changes in the health field.

The health bill main provisions:

• hospitals will be public institutions, foundations or companies
• each tax- payer is insured for a package of basic services
• those who are not insured receive minimal services
• the document of insurance is a national health card
• insurance houses cannot prevent the application of a person

The new health bill "lacks key information"

The Institute for Public Policy (PPI), a non-governmental organisation, disapproves of the health bill, which he considers a business for private insurers.

According to a press release, the project aims for groups of interest to take over the management of the whole system.

According to the representatives of the institute, the law lacks key information about the contents of the main service package or the implementation rules of co-payment system.

PPI considers that the health bill does not aim for the interests of patients and is not concerned to improve the quality of medical care, but it wants to privatise "unclear, radically and with large premises of abuse" the current health system.

On Tuesday, Raed Arafat, the creator of SMURD, who was decorated for his initiative by President Traian Băsescu in 2005, resigned from his position as Undersecretary for Health because of his disapproval of the new provisions in the health bill regarding the emergency medical system.

According to him, by changing the emergency system there will disappear any control over it.

Raed Arafat claims that the new health bill raises many questions concerning the division of public funds and the principles by which they will be allocated, including the private medical care.

Translated by: Cătălina Virvescu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University