Moldovan family physicians to be able to first ever switch to individual practice

Chisinau, 20 July /MOLDPRES/ - The family physicians from Moldova will be able to profess individually, according to the European model. To this end, the cabinet today approved amendments and completions to more legislative acts, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.  
The family physicians will be able to have free practice in one of the forms provided for by the law, either as an employee or as a provider of medical or pharmaceutical services. The financings will be provided depending on the number of patients, as well as on the services additionally provided. Thus, there will be more responsibility and physicians will be interested in providing quality services, in order to have more patients due to appeal to them, given that the patients have right to independently choose the family physician.    
„By this draft, we will solve more problems we are facing in this system: a higher income of the doctor, on the one hand; on the other hand, a much higher quality of services than at present. As, where there is competition, the strongest one wins, or, better to say, the one who provides more qualitative services,” Prime Minister Pavel Filip said.
As for the practice of the family physician, i.e. the territorial sector of work, it will be ascribed based on a contest held by the Health, Labour and Social Protection Ministry.
Among the new elements, there is possibility of free of charge providing by local public authorities of rooms (at the headquarters of public medical institutions or other rooms) and well as of assets needed for carrying out the activity of the providers of first medical aid.  
The role of the family physician in the health system will essentially grow as well. All hospitalizations, except for the urgent ones, will be made upon recommendation of the family physician. The latter will contribute to a better monitoring of cases, to excluding of doublings and optimizing the expenses.  
A novelty also refers to the graduates of the post-university residency studies and of the secondary medical and pharmaceutical education who are employed in rural settlements. No matter the legal status of the institution where they get employed, young specialists will benefit from facilities. “We will have to communicate quite well on this draft, so that young people go to villages to start working. Especially as we have earlier increased by 50 per cent the allowance for young specialists in medicine who go to work in villages, which stands at 45,000 lei,” the PM said.     
The free practice will be in parallel with the present system. The draft’s implementation will ensure good conditions of work for the family physician, will optimize the spending of the health system and will improve the quality of medical services.  
Pavel Filip thanked the team which worked to elaborate the draft. He asked the Health, Labour and Social Protection Ministry to set up a separate unit for monitoring the implementation of this reform.