Heathcare: Over 69,000 healthcare facilities operating in Romania in 2024, only 12,000 in rural areas

In 2024, Romania had over 69,000 healthcare facilities, including 57,000 operating in urban areas, according to data published on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).Of the total number of healthcare facilities, whose number increased by about 2,000 compared from2023, 12,000 were in rural areas.By main categories, Romania's healthcare system in 2024 was made up of 558 hospitals (as against 554 in the previous year), 183 healthcare units (including similar to hospitals) offering only partial inpatient services or outpatient and partial inpatient services (up 20 from 2023); over 15,000 independent specialist medical offices (715 more than a year before); over 17,000 independent dental offices (+504), over 10,000 family medicine offices (+33).INS data reveal that, of the 741 hospitals and similar operating in 2024, 362 are large healthcare facilities with over a hundred beds, and 182 are small facilities with less than 20 beds.As for the pharmaceutical network, it provided services through approximately 10,000 pharmacies and drugstores, up 14 from the year before, serving, on average, 1,908 inhabitants.According to official statistics, in terms of primary medicine, most family medicine practices operated in urban areas (6,200 as against 4,100 in the countryside), and a family medicine office had 1.4 times more inhabitants in rural areas than in urban areas.In specialist outpatient healthcare, the network of independent specialist medical practices and that of independent dental practices - part of the outpatient healthcare provision system - is also mostly located in urban areas. Thus, while in 2024, 14,300 independent specialist medical offices operated in urban areas, in rural areas, their number was 16.5 times lower (871 offices). In relation to the population by residence, the average number of inhabitants who returned to such a medical office was 15.2 times higher in rural areas than in urban areas.At the same time, the 741 hospitals and similar in 2024 had 136,700 beds for continuous hospitalisation (126,300 beds in urban areas and 10,400 beds in rural areas) and 11,400 hospital beds for partial hospitalisation (490 beds in rural areas).Also, the number of patients using the services of hospitals and similar was 3.9 million, hospitalised in continuous hospitalisation and 6 million patients hospitalised in day hospitalisation with over 900,000 more patients than in 2023, when 9 million patients were treated, both in continuous and partial hospitalisation.In terms of available beds, 91.3% of the total beds for continuous hospitalisation and partial hospitalisation were made available to the population at large hospitals with over a hundred beds each.In 2024, the average duration of hospitalisation was 6.8 days/patient admitted to hospital.Patients with medico-social needs were offered healthcare services, medical services and social services with continuous hospitalisation, on average, 196.2 days/patient in healthcare facilities. The prevention and combat of tuberculosis, as well as the treatment of stabilised patients was carried out with continuous hospitalisation, on average, of 137.9 days/patient in the two preventive hospitals, and TB patients were treated, on average, 23.3 days/patient in two specialised sanatoriums.Regarding the healthcare workforce, nationwide there were 74,400 doctors (including family physicians) in 2024, up 1,700 from the previous year, 21,300 dentists (+100), 21,200 pharmacists (-500), 21,300 nurses with higher education (+1,100), 158,500 staff with medium healthcare training (+2,200) and 77,500 auxiliary healthcare workers (+1,200).The share of women among doctors is 70.3%, 66.8% among dentists and 90.2% among pharmacists.In 2024, compared with 2023, the number of specialist doctors (excluding family physicians) increased by 1,533, while family medicine remains the specialty with the highest number of doctors (12,600), followed by internal medicine (3,355), ICU (3,275), paediatrics (3,071) and general medicine (2,967).On the other hand, the least represented medical specialties were nuclear medicine (118), sports medicine (128) and medical rehabilitation (141).The distribution of healthcare workers by residence is determined by the local distribution of healthcare facilities, keeping the existing major discrepancies. Of the total number of doctors, about 17% were family physicians, and more than two thirds of them worked in urban areas.Same as in 2023, in 2014 in rural areas, an average of 2,307 inhabitants returned to a family physician, as against 1,148 inhabitants in urban areas, 3,941 inhabitants to a dentist (as against 522 inhabitants in urban areas), 2,548 inhabitants to a pharmacist (562 inhabitants to a pharmacist in urban areas).