Under the new rules for organizing primary medical assistance, the family doctors will be independent and will not depend on a clinic or an association that would check their incomes. The family doctors will have salaries of at least 30,000 lei a month from the day they will start work in rural localities, Minister of Health, Labor and Social Protection Silvia Radu was quoted by IPN as saying in the program “Moldova live” on Moldova 1 channel.

“These will benefit from a 50% bonus to salaries in rural areas, compared with those who will work in urban areas. I encouraged them to file applications from next Monday so that we start the registration procedure,” stated the minister. According to her, the doctors in urban areas could also earn more money if they start to work individually and assume responsibility for a particular sector.

Silvia Radu said each doctor will have to serve 1,200 to 2,200 patients. “There will be a struggle for patients as these will be free to choose their doctor,” stated the official.

Programs coordinator of the Center for Health Policies and Studies Gennady Țurcanu said the new rules are only a part of that veritable structural reform that should be done in the primary medical assistance sector. “Moldova knows this story. The focus on the organizational reform does not bring the expected results if the other components of the reform are not implemented. In particular, regulations to ensure the quality of services should be worked out. I didn’t see such regulations. The list is unclear and the description of these services is absent,” stated the expert.

According to him, when they switch over from the public sector to the private one and there is decentralization, the powers of the service providers should be very well regulated so that these are obliged to provide medical assistance of a high quality, especially when there are no health divisions in districts.

Recently, the Government approved regulations concerning the organization of primary medical assistance in Moldova so as to ensure the proper functioning of the family doctor’s offices together with the institution of free family doctor’s practice. The new rules will be implemented in several stages: for practice in rural areas without family doctors when the Government decision takes effect; for practice in the municipality of Chisinau (except for villages and communes that form party of the municipality) as from July 1, 2019, and for practice elsewhere as from January 1, 2019.