Rogobete promises payment of on-call shifts for first-year residents in training

The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete, has sent a message of support to resident doctors, stating that they "are not an appendage of the GP, nor the appendix of the professor". The statement was made following a meeting at the ministry with representatives of the Society of Resident Doctors of Romania and the President of the College of Physicians of Romania, Prof. Dr. Cătălina Poiană.

Promise to pay all on-call shifts

The main announcement made by the minister concerns payment for on-call shifts for all resident doctors, regardless of their year of training. "The primary objective is to include residents, regardless of their year of study, in the payment of on-call shifts. I believe we will achieve this by the end of this year," Rogobete said in a video published on Friday evening.

Currently, residents in their first, second, and third years receive no payment for the on-call shifts they carry out. Earlier that same week, the minister had announced that he was working on a system whereby the on-call rate would increase progressively after the second shift in a month, with the estimated budgetary impact being approximately half a billion RON per year.

Representatives of the junior doctors confirmed the ministry's intention: "The good news is that there is finally a commitment to paying all on-call shifts for resident doctors, starting from the first year."

Changes regarding the recognition of qualifications and specialty examinations

During the meeting, the junior doctors presented a list of issues encountered during residency, for which solutions were sought jointly. The ministry decided to completely replace the relevant committees in cases where the wait for the recognition and equivalence of qualifications exceeds 30 days. Additionally, amendments to the methodology for specialty examinations are being considered.

The minister concluded his message to the residents' representatives as follows: "Resident doctors are not an appendage of the GP, nor the appendix of the professor. I strongly support the younger generation and I assure you that, together, through dialogue and balance, things will work out well."