Romanian Patients tackle the access to healthcare issue

The fifth meeting of the National Forum of Patients’ Organisation took place in Bucharest, Romania, on 28-29 March 2014. The event was organised by our member, the Coalition of Patients' Organizations with Chronic Diseases from Romania (COPAC).

Patients’ representatives took this event as an opportunity to share their concerns, opinion and solutions with key players from the health and social fields.

The participants discussed access of patients to the new and effective medicines, access to care, rehabilitation services and social benefits as well as discrimination in healthcare. From the testimonials of participants, it resulted that chronic patients have difficulties in getting last generation medicines due to the price and lack of reimbursement. Some diseases are not included on the list to get treatments, and sometimes discrimination prevents patients from enjoying their basic rights to health and social benefits.

EPF was invited to present the Campaign for 2014 European Elections in the opening session. In her presentation, EPF project Officer Cristina Padeanu showed the EPF Campaign Video available in Romanian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV7Kufq14dE&list=UU6zIbM3AWPLWzXXKADohBjw.

President of COPAC Radu Ganescu (pictured) said: “We celebrate the Patients’ Week, and I hope to hear discussions not only about the problems of patients and health system, but mostly about solutions and how to make them available to patients. In the current unstable political context, we [patient organisations] need to be united and establish a better collaboration among patients’ groups through a common platform of action, mostly to work on the issues that are of interest for all of us. This is the only way that the voice of patients can be heard and respected.”

Please follow this link to watch the video for patients’ rights launched by COPAC.

For more information, please contact our Project Officer Cristina Padeanu at cristina.padeanu@eu-patient.eu.