The Cabinet approved a draft law to amend and supplement a number of legal acts by which a number of problems faced in the primary medical assistance sector are addressed. When the bill is adopted by Parliament, the role of family doctors in the health system will increase considerably, IPN reports.

Thus, the changes proposed to the Law on Health Protection clearly define the providers of medical services, the activity and foundation methods, with emphasis on primary care providers.

To ensure access to high-quality and reachable medical services, it is suggested that the local public authorities should lease out areas inside public health facilities or other areas that satisfy the needs to primary care providers for outfitting family doctor’s offices. The equipment needed for work could also be leased out.

The amendment and supplement to Article 8 of the Law on Health Protection specify the medical practice methods. One of this is independent activity. The possibility of independent activity is specified in the legislation, but the doctors could not practice independently because there was no clear regulatory mechanism.

Also, all the graduates of post-university residency and of secondary, medical and pharmaceutical education institutions who accept to work in rural areas, regardless of the legal status of the employing entity – institution or family doctor’s office that works independently – will benefit from the same allowance of 45,000 lei as those working in urban areas.

The graduates of medical and pharmaceutical education institutions whose studies were budget-funded will be obliged to work for at least three years after residency as they will be assigned by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection.

The patients will be admitted to hospitals through the family doctor, except for the urgent cases.

There were introduced new regulations that refer to the family doctor’s practice, the family doctor’s office and the organizational form. The changes made to the Fiscal Code provide that the family doctors who work independently will be taxed in the same way as the taxpayers who work in the legal system.

Prime Minister Pavel Filip said the work on this bill was intense and long. “The model we propose refers to the independent activity of the family doctors and is based on competitiveness. It will allow providing high-quality medial services to the population, while the people will be able to choose the family doctor and increase their incomes,” he stated, noting about 80% of the medical services in Moldova are offered through primary care providers.