Ombudsman Mihail Cotorobai considers the persons with COVID-19 who are receiving treatment at home do not benefit from the necessary assistance from the competent authorities and this implies risks of violation of the rights to life and health. He recommended the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection to urgently issue a document intended for family doctors for standardizing home treatment for persons with different forms of COVID-19, IPN reports.
In a press release, Mihail Cotorobai said he turned his attention to the problem following frequent approaches made to the ombudsman, through social networking sites, in the press, where persons express their dissatisfaction with the fact that home treatment, including the post-COVID-19 one, even if it’s expensive, is not covered on account of the mandatory health insurance. Also, the drugstores report an acute shortage of drugs needed for home treatment. The prices are raised artificially.
The ombudsman noted that owing to the chaotic approach to home treatment, many infected persons use treatment schemes taken from social networking site or other unsafe sources. This way, the patient’s rights to correct informing, quality and safety in health are violated. The law guarantees the right to health protection and obliges the public authorities to regulate the main areas and aspects of the realization of this right. The WHO stipulates the state’s obligation to make sure that the health services are available, accessible, acceptable and of a high-quality.
Mihail Cotorobai requests to work out an algorithm that would ensure the equitable access to lab and imaging examinations of the persons with COVID-19 who are under home treatment so as to prescribe high-quality treatment for them, in accordance with the health needs. He also suggests including the medicines indicated in the case of home treatment of different forms of infection and those necessary for post-COVID rehabilitation in the list of compensated drugs. The Ministry of Health, in concert with the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency, should ensure the population’s access to the necessary drugs and should monitor and analyze the prices of the drugs indicated in the treatment of different forms of COVID-19, by setting limits on price rises in drugstores.
