Roma Refused Medical Treatment in Romania
28 May 2004
ERRC field research, conducted on February 19, 2004, revealed that family doctors in the village of Cumpâna, Constanţa County, refuse to treat Romani patients on the grounds that they "smell bad" and are "dirty". The Romani community in Cumpâna is extremely impoverished and the majority of Roma in the community are unemployed. According to ERRC research, only some of the eligible Roma receive social benefits. Therefore, many Romani residents of the village are not entitled to state-sponsored medical insurance. Nor can they afford to pay doctors' fees.
According to Article 6 of the Emergency Ordinance 150/2002 on the Organisation and Functioning of Health Social Insurance, the "following category of persons are entitled to health insurance without paying the contribution: persons belonging to a family who has the right to social benefits in accordance with Law 416/2001 on Guaranteeing Minimum Income. However, ERRC research revealed that family doctors refuse to provide care assistance even to those who receive social benefits. According to their testimony to theERRC, in September 2003, a Romani family filed a complaint against Dr Elena Nitulescu of Cumpâna with the Constanţa Public Health Department Cumpâna village because she refused to see and vaccinate their two children, reportedly on the grounds that they were "dirty" and "noisy". The family receives social welfare benefits, including state-sponsored medical insurance. Dr Nitulescu reportedly took the family off her patients list and informed the Constanţa Health Insurance Agency. According to ERRC research, the case was transferred from the Public Health Department to the Social Welfare Office.
Ms Lacramioara Georgescu, a social worker, informed the ERRC that she visited Cumpâna to accompany the Romani family to Dr Nitulescu's office for a consultation. According to Ms Georgescu, Dr Nitulescu's medical assistant verbally abused the family, saying that they were noisy and did not wait their turn and said, "Not only do you come dirty and have a big mouth, but you also threaten the doctor." The medical assistant then told them that they could not see Dr Nitulescu because they were not on her patients' list. Ms Georgescu informed the ERRC that when she asked Dr Nitulescu why she refused to treat the family, she stated, "I am fed up with them because they are noisy and because they abuse me. They stink and are dirty! That is why I took them off the list." Dr Nitulescu told Ms Georgescu that she refused to vaccinate the children because the mother had not signed a form. After Ms Georgescu again requested that she vaccinate the children, Dr Nitulescu vaccinated one of the children, in a very aggressive manner, apparently without first sterilising the needle.
On February 8, 2004, the Cumpâna Town Hall wrote a letter to the Constanţa Public Health Department, listing sixteen people who were not registered with a family doctor because the patients' lists of the doctors were full. On February 19, 2004, an employee of the Cumpâna Town Hall who requested anonymity stated that thirteen of the people on the list were Romani. The Town Hall employee further stated that the reason for non-registration was the ethnicity of the patients. However, those persons listed in the letter of the Cumpana Town Hall had not been registered on the patients' lists of any family doctor, according to the Town Hall employee. (ERRC)
