BUCHAREST, ROMANIA – Mariuca Niculae, 75, is waiting in the hall of the Regina Maria Social Polyclinic in Bucharest, Romania’s capital. She says she is at the clinic because she suffers from “terrible heartaches.”
“It’s like a claw,” she says, describing the pain. “It never goes away.”
Niculae and another 10 patients wait to be called in for their examination by Dr. Wargha Enayati, the founder and director of the Regina Maria Foundation, the not-for-profit branch of the biggest private health network in Romania.
The foundation opened Bucharest’s first free clinic for uninsured Romanians in 2011. It aims to provide both emergency and nonemergency medical care to the socially disadvantaged people in the city who lack health insurance.
Niculae comes from a village 80 kilometers outside Bucharest with a poetic name, “Dor Marunt,” which means “Little Longing.” Before her son brought her to the clinic in Bucharest, where he lives, Niculae struggled to receive care at the hospital in the countryside.
“The hospital was one train stop far, and the doctors over there came only twice a week,” Niculae says.
Niculae has a monthly pension of around 300 lei ($90). Romanian law guarantees free health care to all retired citizens, but she says their access to the medical services they need is not always guaranteed. Therefore, Niculae says she seeks medical care not to prolong her life, but only to relieve her physical pain.
“Today, tomorrow, I’ll be dead anyway,” she says calmly.
Niculae is a widow. With tears in her eyes, she says she remembers her “old man,” her husband, who died 11 years ago. She now lives alone in the countryside. Her children live in Bucharest, but she says she doesn’t want to move in with them because she doesn’t want to burden them.
“There’s not enough room,” she says resignedly. “My son has to sleep on the floor when I came to Bucharest, and I don’t want to trouble him.”
Ill and disadvantaged, Niculae says she is well-aware of the social inequalities that exist in Romania that are reflected in the health care system.
“Nowadays, some people have and others don’t have,” she says firmly.
Led by a cardiologist who says he is committed to serving others, the capital’s first free clinic offers full medical services to uninsured Romanians. One population the clinic strives to provide care to is the city’s homeless. The clinic’s operation in the future depends on increasing funding. The national insurance fund is also in need of a larger budget because the number of people who receive care outnumber those who pay for insurance. The government plans to introduce a new co-payment system this year.
Romania offers free medical care to all citizens with identity papers who pay into the National Insurance Fund, according to the National Health Insurance House. Vulnerable citizens, such as children, students, disabled people, unemployed people and pregnant women, are exempt from paying into the fund. Emergency care is provided to everyone regardless of whether they’re insured or have identity papers.
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