The chaos reigning in the public healthcare system is sending patients knocking on the doors of private clinics. Increasingly more people are choosing invoiced medical services, as the official funds aimed at public hospitals are either misdirected or misspent and the unofficial funds have individual destinations and do not result in improved services.
Several years ago, a subscription to a private health clinic was deemed as sheer luxury, available only to the privileged few. In the meantime, the increased number of people with average-to-high incomes and the disastrous state of the public health system have "democratised" access to these services. More than 25,000 people now hold member cards issued by the private health clinics.
Moreover, even non-members have been turning to the private system in the past few months. Thus, in the Medicover network (Romania's largest private network of clinics), the number of paid medical examinations went up 10% in June as compared to January 2003, whereas the number of tests climbed 20% since last year: 3,000 paid tests daily, up from last year's 2,400.
"Although the total increase is not spectacular, we could say there are certain cases where the numbers are really impressive, especially for the high-quality medical investigations, which are scarce on the market. On the other hand, the situation is much clearer in the case of lab tests," says Anca Bucur Bajenaru, marketing manager at Medicover.
Medicover Romania, part of an international network with Swedish capital, now sees some 3,500 patients every day in clinics and laboratories, up from last year's 2,800. Moreover, the number of members has increased 18% since the beginning of the year.
Greek-held private clinic Medsana posted 30% turnover increase in the first half as compared to the year-ago period, up to $1.1 million.
"There are insufficient medical services in Romania's public system, which creates demand for private clinics. Here at Medsana we have seen moderate increases in several departments, such as laboratory services, stomatology, specialised counselling, ultrasound. We have been working longer hours lately and brought new doctors on board," says Doina Zidaroiu, the company's public relations manager.
The company now has 250 clients daily and 3,800 members, up 25% since 2002. Medsana estimates 80,000 examinations for this year, up from last year's 55,000.
Unirea Medical Center, a company with German capital established by the physician of the German Embassy to Bucharest, works mainly with multinationals.
"The private system is booming. There is considerably higher demand for private medical services, due to the new norms on labour medicine, but also due to the companies' desire to provide employees with medical services," said Cristian Sas, the company's development manager. sorin.pislaru@zf.ro
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