VIDEO // Prime Minister requested review of rules for authorizing dental clinics

Prime Minister Vasile Tofan has requested a review of the rules for authorizing dental clinics, which he considers excessive and unsuitable for small medical units. The statements were made during the Government meeting, after a discussion with representatives of the medical tourism and dental services sector, who reported bottlenecks.

According to the Prime Minister, the current regulation has 35 pages and contains numerous requirements that can make it difficult for a dentist at the beginning of their career to open a clinic.

"I started today’s Government meeting with a topic that has concerned me since yesterday: the requirements that entrepreneurs who want to open a dental clinic must meet. I was shocked. I try to meet almost every day with representatives of the business community. Yesterday I spoke with representatives of associations in the field of medical tourism and dental services. We are talking about an industry that started from scratch and has reached a value of tens of millions of euros, without subsidies or state aid. Entrepreneurs built it themselves, attracting foreign patients who come to the Republic of Moldova for dental treatments. They pointed out the current bottlenecks they are facing. For the authorization of dental clinics, there is a 35-page regulation. If you read it, you realize that a young dentist who wants to open a clinic has almost no chance of doing so. Honestly, I don’t know how some entrepreneurs managed to obtain the authorizations," Vasile Tofan said.

The Prime Minister stated that among the requirements are the existence of an elevator and an alternative source of electricity, ensuring access to a priest or representatives of other religious denominations, compliance with certain rules regarding door width, hiring a dietician and dietetic nurses, having a laundry sized according to the number of beds, keeping food samples in the fridge for at least three days, feeding patients at least four times a day, displaying the menu daily including portion sizes, and even setting up a triage commission to check the food before distribution. The regulation also imposes procedures on relations with the public and the media, including appointing a spokesperson, and in the chapter on internal communication it even mentions fax. It goes so far as to set procedures for cases of death and autopsy and, incredibly for a standard applicable to dental services, it even checks the capacity to provide voluntary termination of pregnancy.

Under these conditions, the Prime Minister asked Minister of Health Alexandru Gasnaș to revise the regulation and put things in order.

"We cannot suffocate entrepreneurs with such requirements. This regulation is designed for a large hospital, not for small dental clinics where two people work. I gave this example because similar situations exist in almost all fields: excessive, bureaucratic rules that are sometimes impossible to comply with," the official said.

He assured that the authorities will continue to focus on deregulation, eliminating excessive requirements and simplifying the activity of entrepreneurs in the Republic of Moldova.