President apologises for misquoting an official report, saying 40% of the diagnosis are wrong

Romanian President Traian Basescu has misquoted an official report of the Health presidential commission, stating that over 40% of his state’s citizens have been wrongly diagnosed. The Romanian chief of state has made this statement during debates addressing education laws. Several hours later, he expressed his regret on the Presidential Administration website for „the lack of clarity following the speech”.

„I would like you to note a statement made very recently by one of the European states, which starts to dismantle a myth related to the doctors trained by Romanian universities. It’s about fresh statements coming from France, which clearly state that Romanian doctors are not trained properly. Plus, I can tell you that a presidential commission which has evaluated the Romanian health system indicates that the rate of wrong diagnosis is above 40% in the Romanian health system. It derived from the educational system”, Traian Basescu declared on Monday morning, quoted by Romanian news agency Mediafax.

He pointed out to the wrong diagnosis or the surgical intervention in patients that don’t need it.

„Romania’s President Traian Basescu regrets the lack of clarity his March 29 speech resulted in, during a public debate addressing the new education law. President Traian Basescu had the increase in the education quality of the future doctors in mind”, a presidential communiqué reads.

The excuse documents says that „the president started out from the conclusions of the Report of the Presidential Committee for analysis and Policy Elaboration in the Romanian Public Health Sector, which indicates that our country tops EU members when it comes to avoidable deaths (deaths that are usually avoided in the other EU states due to the medical intervention).”

„Another argument is overcrowded hospitals following incomplete or incorrect diagnosis”, the quoted source explains, adding that „many illnesses which are being treated in hospitals could be solved with primary care or in ambulatory”.

Therefore, the document reads that up to 57% of the cases treated in hospital could be treated outside according to European practices. At the same time, the same document indicates that the number of surgical interventions in the case of hospitalised patients is almost three times bigger than the EU average.

„The President did not intend to minimise the extraordinary efforts made by Romanian physicians at their work place, but considers that the system cannot be improved in the absence of a solid profile university education quality.”