Minister of Health Ala Nemerenco said the salaries in the health system will be raised. The first raised salaries could be paid in September or October. The doctors on guard will be the first to benefit from raises, IPN reports.
“If we manage to amend the legislation, the measure will start to be applied in September. If not, higher salaries will be paid as from October 1 at the latest. The pay raises will be introduced by categories. The salaries will not be increased as until now. We followed the example of other countries. When you have a sum of money, you resort to simulation to see into how much it can be divided. When this is divided to cover the whole system, one gets 10 lei, while another one 180 lei and everyone is unhappy,” the minister stated in the talk show “Black Box” on TV8 channel. She noted that for the raises to be felt, these should cover categories of employees.
According to Ala Nemerenco, a large number of doctors will get higher pays at the initial stage as many work on guard to earn more money and do this honestly. “They work on guard where the medical personnel are insufficient. So, if we increase the payment for a shift on guard four times, the salary will raise significantly,” she stated, noting a shift on guard could rise to almost 1,000 lei.
Furthermore, the minister said the next stage could be raising the lump sum for physicians and medical assistants who will go to work in rural and remote areas to 120,000 lei for doctors and to 80,000 lei for medical assistants. “Moreover, not only those who studied on an budget-funded place could benefit from this money, but also those who studied on a contract basis and will be ready to fill the vacancies announced by the Ministry of Heath,” stated Ala Nemerenco.
She noted the doctors went to work abroad not only because of the low salaries, but also because they didn’t have the possibility of growing professionally as all the posts were distributed by arrangement and were maximally politicized. Furthermore, the health system employees could not go abroad to study and return home to work and now have to work in deplorable conditions.
