College of Physicians: healthcare recruitment cannot remain frozen, the system needs staff

The President of the Romanian College of Physicians, Cătălina Poiană, stated on Wednesday evening, via a Facebook post, that hiring freezes in the healthcare sector can no longer be sustained, as the medical system is in urgent need of doctors and additional staff.

"Hiring in Healthcare cannot remain frozen! Healthcare needs doctors, it needs staff," wrote Cătălina Poiană.

Earlier, in an official statement cited by News.ro, representatives of the College of Physicians warned that the healthcare system is going through another period of tension, related in part to the pay legislation — a situation that "must be approached with responsibility, balance, and strategic thinking," given patients' access to public medical services.

The Executive Bureau of the College considers that decisions in healthcare should not be made solely on the basis of short-term budgetary constraints. The institution argues that policies in this field must be planned over the medium and long term, so as to ensure the stability of the system, improve its efficiency, retain and develop medical staff, maintain adequate infrastructure, and continuously improve patients' access to quality care.

According to the statement, a high-performing healthcare system absolutely requires a dedicated priority strategy for medical personnel, one that includes:

• sustained investment in human resources;
• specialist retention policies;
• predictable working conditions;
• professional development opportunities;
• recognition of the value of healthcare professions.

"Competition for attracting doctors and other healthcare professionals is today a reality at the European and international level, and Romania cannot afford to be left out of this competition," the statement reads.

The College of Physicians believes that any decision relating to healthcare must be grounded in an analysis of its medium- and long-term effects, and that measures affecting the stability of human resources must also be assessed in terms of their impact on patients' access to medical services, as well as the system's capacity to meet the population's healthcare challenges.

"We call upon all political decision-makers, regardless of party, to treat healthcare as a strategic priority of the Romanian state, and for the authorities to develop a human resources policy based on genuine consultation with us, as representatives of doctors, alongside other professional bodies — a strategy that should be known throughout society as a whole, given that access to medical services concerns every citizen. Trust in a healthcare system is also built through people, or, first and foremost, through the professionals who sustain it day after day," the statement further reads.

The Romanian College of Physicians asserts that the country needs a genuine national strategy for human resources in healthcare — not merely a declaratory one — "because the future of the medical system depends, above all, on the people who work within it every single day."