Alexandru Rogobete is considering replacing residency positions with training places

Health Minister Alexandru Rogobete is considering having only training places, rather than positions that require resident doctors to subsequently work at a specific hospital, offered in the Residency Examination starting next year. The measure would give young doctors more freedom to choose their specialty and workplace after completing their training.

Rogobete says that experience over the past four or five years has shown that many positions remain unfilled, while some doctors change their specialty or do not return to the unit to which they were assigned. In other cases, residents realize along the way that their chosen specialty is not suitable for them, which complicates the allocation system.

The minister says it would be more useful to increase the number of training places so that more candidates can become specialist doctors without being “tied to the land” of a particular hospital. He noted that residents are paid for the work they perform and should not be required to remain in a specific place after completing their studies.

At the same time, the Ministry of Health is analyzing the situation of the 7,000 positions unlocked in June to determine how many were offered in competitions and how many were filled. The institution is also preparing a digital platform that could become operational at the beginning of next year and would display in real time the available positions, specialties, localities, and competition schedules.