Several doctors from the Oncology Department at Timisoara City Hospital were prosecuted for accepting money and bribes from patients, one of whom received about $1,000.
Authorities conducted nine raids on the suspects’ workplaces and homes, and detained a doctor from the Department of Surgical Oncology on August 28. He was caught red-handed with a $1,000 bribe. Police allege the doctor accepted money from a patient to buy medicine and various medical products for an upcoming surgery.
Four other doctors were also questioned by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Timis Court. All are under investigation for allegedly accepting bribes more than 40 times since April this year. Patients gave them cash, honey or jars of spices. However, sources said that none of the five medical staff actively solicited money or gifts for treating patients.
Also in the Department of General Surgery and Oncology, in 2022, the authorities arrested Dr. Octavian Mazilu for accepting bribes. At that time, he was the head of the department and had previously been the director of the Timisoara City Hospital. In 2023, Mazilu was sentenced by the Timis Court of First Instance to 3 years in prison, suspended, and 70 days of community service.
In 2016, a doctor from the Caras-Severin Retirement Home “set a record” by accepting bribes every 10 minutes, Digi24 reported. He earned about $1,100 a day from patients seeking to apply for medical retirement. The average salary in Romania is $489 a month. Investigators found more than $100,000 in cash and a checkbook worth $200,000 when they searched his home. He was convicted of 291 counts of corruption.
Illustration of a doctor receiving bribes from a patient. Photo: Romania Insider
Romania is one of the countries with the highest levels of bribery in the health sector, according to data from the European Commission’s official monitoring body. It also has the lowest life expectancy on the continent. Experts say patients are often asked for money in exchange for medical services they should receive for free.
Frontier also analyzed this situation. The first reason why patients have the habit of bribing doctors is the desire to receive better care, or at least not be denied treatment. Next, they want to express gratitude to doctors according to Islamic concepts.
According to a Eurostat survey published by the European Commission, one in five patients admitted to giving cash or expensive gifts to doctors when they sought medical care at a public health facility. In waiting rooms and even in front of hospitals, patients and their families continue to exchange information about how much they will pay for their care. 18% of Romanians admitted to sending envelopes to clinics or stuffing them directly into doctors’ pockets.
Other countries that top Europe in terms of hospital corruption include Greece. Experts say that the health system has not been reformed and modernized, the number of public hospitals is still small, and the shortage of doctors and nurses creates favorable conditions for bribery. This has gradually become a habit, an “unspoken rule” for both doctors and patients.
In Romania, bribery is also directly proportional to poverty. The lower the income in a district, the more common bribery is. Based on surveys, graphs.ro created a “bribery map” of hospitals in the country. In the Teleorman district, where poverty levels are high, 5.2% of respondents said they had been asked by doctors or other health care workers for extra money. In recent years, some doctors have accepted expensive gifts in addition to cash for treating patients. Several cases have resulted in prosecution.