The Health Services System in Romania: A Case Study

• Main Author: Raluca-Giorgiana Chivu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ovidius University Press 2019-01-01
• Series: Ovidius University Annals: Economic Sciences Series
• Subjects: healthcare services; health services system
• Online Access: http://stec.univ-ovidius.ro/html/anale/RO/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Section%20II/3.pdf

Despite over 26 years of continuous efforts to reform the health system, Romania is facing severe problems in meeting the health needs of the population, mainly due to the underfunding of public health units, lack of medical staff, lack of doctors in the rural areas. The economic crisis deepened these problems, which made it more difficult to access the health care of disadvantaged or vulnerable groups of the population. Poor health status of the community, demographic aging, high population share, and high incidence of chronic diseases all lead to increased health care needs. To understand conceptually and the content of health services, it is necessary, besides explaining the concept of service as a whole and clarifying the concepts of health and health system. In this article, we have reviewed the current situation of health services in Romania, statistically evaluating the number of medical units per development regions throughout the country.