Report “Health Systems in Transition – Moldova” presented in Chisinau

The report “Health Systems in Transition – Republic of Moldova” prepared by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies of the World Health Organization (WHO) was presented at a roundtable meeting in Chisinau. The meeting was attended by foreign experts and representatives of the Health Ministry . Health Systems in Transition profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of each health care system and of reform and policy initiatives in progress or under development. Each report contains a section on human resources for health including an overview of the situation and specific health workforce statistics, Info-Prim Neo reports. The report is a join initiative of the WHO, the World Bank and a number of international partners, said Pavel Ursu, the head of the WHO Office in Moldova. “It gives a detailed description of the healthcare problems faced by the country and speaks about the implementation of the obligatory health insurance policies and performance in healthcare,” he added. Valeriu Sava, the head of the Health Ministry's Health Insurance Division, said the major aim of the report was to create an instrument for comparing the health systems of different countries. He stressed that we can compare the health systems of the Central, Western and Eastern European countries with those of the new independent countries and the comparison is relevant and truthful as every country developed its own model of system. Moldova chose to develop the obligatory health insurance model and this model could serve as example for other countries, Valeriu Sava said. However, the legislation must be modified, the access to healthcare services must be improved and the insurance coverage must be extended. Sava said that about 23-26% of the population does not have insurance policies, but the given report could help improve the situation.