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Interview on Digi24: Luciana Lăzărescu, CDCDI researcher, on the condition of foreign medical doctors in Romania
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While Romanian doctors emigrate massively to western countries, Romania only allows a small category of foreigners to practice medicine. Although they have completed their studies and their medical residency in the country, foreigners from outside the EU, Switzerland or the European Economic Area are not allowed to practice medicine in Romania - however they are accepted by countries such as Germany or France. The Ministry of Health and the College of Physicians declared it would not be fair to allow these foreigners to work in Romania.
The Ministry of Health has recently proposed an amendment to the law, which would enable physicians holding a permit of highly skilled workers (Blue Card) to practice. Unfortunately this amendment would bring about only very few improvements, explained Luciana Lăzărescu, researcher at CDCDI (Research and Information Center on Immigrant Integration), in a material for Digi24 TV channel.
DIGI24 OPINIONS - The foreign doctors whom Romania does not accept
Luciana Lăzărescu, for Digi24 TV channel:
Immigrants who study medicine in Romania could partly compensate the exodus of Romanian specialists, should they be allowed to practice At present they may only practice if they marry EU citizens or if they are granted a domicile in Romania - this can normally be obtained after 5 years of continuous stay, but foreigners holding a study visa are not entitled to apply for domicile.
Other European states have attracted these medical doctors from states such as Syria (known as third countries).
The EU introduced the Blue Card in its legislation as early as 2009, to facilitate the access of highly qualified immigrants to jobs.
A research of 2014 shows it was a good decision: it brought economic and social benefits to the countries which used this mechanism.
A case study on the health system in Germany - which in 2012 allowed third country nationals to practice medicine - showed that this helped cover areas lacking doctors and resulted in less money spent from the state budget.
In Romania foreign graduates were not allowed to practice medicine as this "would have been discriminatory".
In 2015 we launched a petition, together with other NGOs, to convince the Ministry of Health to follow the European example.
However this was not desired, we were told that those foreigners are not allowed to practice as this would be discriminatory.
According to the official opinion of the College of Physicians, requested by the Ministry of Health, discrimination would occur among third country nationals depending on their place of study, so between those who graduated in the EEA or Switzerland and those who graduated in other countries.
The College of Physicians also said that the proposal to allow foreigners to practice is not in line with European legislation — which is not correct, there is both an European legislation to this effect (such as the Blue Card Directive of 2009, mentioned before), and countries who have implemented it for years.
In the meantime Romanian specialists continued to leave. It is estimated that there is a deficit of 13,000 persons in the medical system. In just 7 years the number of physicians who left the country exceeded 15,000 persons, and Romania is among the countries with the lowest number of medical doctors per capita in Europe (n.r.)
The lack of political will appears to blend with a reactive attitude. That is, we only take measures after things become very serious.
In June 2016 a draft OUG (Governmental Emergency Ordinance) was posted on the Ministry of Health website, which proposed an amendment of the current legal framework (Law 95/2006 on the health reform), allowing a new category of foreigners to practice medicine. More precisely, those who hold a Blue Card, regardless of whether they have studied in Romania or not.
Why would the new legislative proposal not solve the issue?
This includes only a small proportion of foreigners. The Blue Card is only granted to highly skilled workers who have no other right to stay in the EU; for instance Blue Card holders may not be at the same time refugees or family members of third country nationals.
To understand how few people would be targeted by this legislative change, we should also see the number of highly qualified workers in Romania: in 2015 about 140 residence permits were issued in this respect (not only for physicians but also for various other fields).
In addition the new legislation would not bring any change to the status of pharmacists or stomatologists.
The draft OUG also proposes a series of other restrictions, showing that the positions allocated to foreign physicians are those which are not wanted by Romanian doctors, and allocation shall not be based on competence criteria: third country physicians shall be bound to work in the first two years only in medical units with at least 30% shortage in that particular specialisation; they shall only be allowed to move on a contest basis and only upon expiry of the two year period.
Together with other non-governmental organisations, we sent suggestions to the Ministry of Health regarding the law amendment proposal. The main observations were: 1) extending the practice license to other alien categories with a right to stay in Romania, in addition to Blue Card holders, such as persons with a form of international protection and family members of third country nationals; 2) applying the same conditions for stomatologists and pharmacists, who are not subject to the amendments in the draft OUG; 3) reducing the minimum salary threshold for highly qualified workers in the professions where qualified work force from third countries is necessary (for highly qualified workers the law currently provides salaries 4 times higher than the gross average salary).
Now Romania appears to have decided to transpose the European Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications only to tick a success on paper - in fact the foreigners' status would not change and the system would not be improved either.
The condition of medical doctors who are not allowed to practice represents only part of the problems which the Romanian state could avoid by better valorising the human capital of immigrants in Romania.
It is about the lack of a coherent vision on migration. In 2015 we undertook a research and prepared public policy proposals in this field. Although the initial idea was to explore migrants' perception on their experiences in Romania, the results highlighted various types of breaches or restrictions of rights which affect them significantly (such as abuse and exploitation).
These limitations and the lack of a coherent vision on migration affect not only migrants but also the state itself, by creating conditions from which nobody has anything to win.
The title, introduction ad highlights belong to the editor (contact: laura.stefanut@digi24.ro)
The Ministry of Health has recently proposed an amendment to the law, which would enable physicians holding a permit of highly skilled workers (Blue Card) to practice. Unfortunately this amendment would bring about only very few improvements, explained Luciana Lăzărescu, researcher at CDCDI (Research and Information Center on Immigrant Integration), in a material for Digi24 TV channel.
DIGI24 OPINIONS - The foreign doctors whom Romania does not accept
Luciana Lăzărescu, for Digi24 TV channel:
Immigrants who study medicine in Romania could partly compensate the exodus of Romanian specialists, should they be allowed to practice At present they may only practice if they marry EU citizens or if they are granted a domicile in Romania - this can normally be obtained after 5 years of continuous stay, but foreigners holding a study visa are not entitled to apply for domicile.
Other European states have attracted these medical doctors from states such as Syria (known as third countries).
The EU introduced the Blue Card in its legislation as early as 2009, to facilitate the access of highly qualified immigrants to jobs.
A research of 2014 shows it was a good decision: it brought economic and social benefits to the countries which used this mechanism.
A case study on the health system in Germany - which in 2012 allowed third country nationals to practice medicine - showed that this helped cover areas lacking doctors and resulted in less money spent from the state budget.
In Romania foreign graduates were not allowed to practice medicine as this "would have been discriminatory".
In 2015 we launched a petition, together with other NGOs, to convince the Ministry of Health to follow the European example.
However this was not desired, we were told that those foreigners are not allowed to practice as this would be discriminatory.
According to the official opinion of the College of Physicians, requested by the Ministry of Health, discrimination would occur among third country nationals depending on their place of study, so between those who graduated in the EEA or Switzerland and those who graduated in other countries.
The College of Physicians also said that the proposal to allow foreigners to practice is not in line with European legislation — which is not correct, there is both an European legislation to this effect (such as the Blue Card Directive of 2009, mentioned before), and countries who have implemented it for years.
In the meantime Romanian specialists continued to leave. It is estimated that there is a deficit of 13,000 persons in the medical system. In just 7 years the number of physicians who left the country exceeded 15,000 persons, and Romania is among the countries with the lowest number of medical doctors per capita in Europe (n.r.)
The lack of political will appears to blend with a reactive attitude. That is, we only take measures after things become very serious.
In June 2016 a draft OUG (Governmental Emergency Ordinance) was posted on the Ministry of Health website, which proposed an amendment of the current legal framework (Law 95/2006 on the health reform), allowing a new category of foreigners to practice medicine. More precisely, those who hold a Blue Card, regardless of whether they have studied in Romania or not.
Why would the new legislative proposal not solve the issue?
This includes only a small proportion of foreigners. The Blue Card is only granted to highly skilled workers who have no other right to stay in the EU; for instance Blue Card holders may not be at the same time refugees or family members of third country nationals.
To understand how few people would be targeted by this legislative change, we should also see the number of highly qualified workers in Romania: in 2015 about 140 residence permits were issued in this respect (not only for physicians but also for various other fields).
In addition the new legislation would not bring any change to the status of pharmacists or stomatologists.
The draft OUG also proposes a series of other restrictions, showing that the positions allocated to foreign physicians are those which are not wanted by Romanian doctors, and allocation shall not be based on competence criteria: third country physicians shall be bound to work in the first two years only in medical units with at least 30% shortage in that particular specialisation; they shall only be allowed to move on a contest basis and only upon expiry of the two year period.
Together with other non-governmental organisations, we sent suggestions to the Ministry of Health regarding the law amendment proposal. The main observations were: 1) extending the practice license to other alien categories with a right to stay in Romania, in addition to Blue Card holders, such as persons with a form of international protection and family members of third country nationals; 2) applying the same conditions for stomatologists and pharmacists, who are not subject to the amendments in the draft OUG; 3) reducing the minimum salary threshold for highly qualified workers in the professions where qualified work force from third countries is necessary (for highly qualified workers the law currently provides salaries 4 times higher than the gross average salary).
Now Romania appears to have decided to transpose the European Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications only to tick a success on paper - in fact the foreigners' status would not change and the system would not be improved either.
The condition of medical doctors who are not allowed to practice represents only part of the problems which the Romanian state could avoid by better valorising the human capital of immigrants in Romania.
It is about the lack of a coherent vision on migration. In 2015 we undertook a research and prepared public policy proposals in this field. Although the initial idea was to explore migrants' perception on their experiences in Romania, the results highlighted various types of breaches or restrictions of rights which affect them significantly (such as abuse and exploitation).
These limitations and the lack of a coherent vision on migration affect not only migrants but also the state itself, by creating conditions from which nobody has anything to win.
The title, introduction ad highlights belong to the editor (contact: laura.stefanut@digi24.ro)
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