Romanian Health Ministry To Cut 84 Management Positions In Public Health Depts

The Ministry wants to eliminate two coordinating deputy manager positions from each local public health department.

On May 21, the Health Ministry announced it was going to restructure public health departments, but only by cutting back on the number of administrative and managerial positions. No medical staff will be laid off.

Romania's Health Minister Cseke Attila said on May 13 that the Ministry is currently investigating the activity of public health departments, which are overstaffed and sometimes inefficient. According to the minister, the number of staff in these institutions ranges from 67 to 623. Cseke added that, after the issue of collective labor contracts is resolved, the units will be restructured.

The Government is currently considering cutting around 1,100 jobs out of some 7,870 in public healthcare units under the authority of the Ministry of Health, as of August 1, according to a government document obtained by MEDIAFAX last week.

As of August 1, the Government will cut the maximum possible number of healthcare jobs financed entirely from the state budget.

The Government finances a maximum 7,872 jobs in the healthcare sector this year, but budgetary assignments approved for this year are lower than needed. According to a recent analysis, the system would become more efficient if staff numbers were lowered by 1,112. Severance pay for this measure would cost the state budget an estimated 75.5 million lei (EUR1=RON4. 1623).

The same document shows that current public health department staff numbers are inequitable, since there are counties whose population numbers are equal, but whose health departments are not staffed accordingly. The public health department for capital Bucharest has 326 employees, more than the Health Ministry's 264.

The currently debated minister's order will determine the number of public health department employees in accordance to each county's population. After the restructuring, each department will be run by a coordinating manager and two deputy coordinating managers.

If you liked this story, please follow MEDIAFAX.RO on FACEBOOK »

The content of mediafax.ro is for your information only. Republishing or using this content is forbidden without express consent of MEDIAFAX. For this consent, please ask for it by mail at vanzari@mediafax.ro.