Prime Minister Ludovic Orban asked today the Health Ministry to increase the coronavirus testing capacity and the response capacity of the Public Health Directorates, calling also again for family doctors to be involved in the assessment of the persons who do not need inpatient care.

"It is my understanding that you already had discussions with representatives of family doctors with regard to epidemiological inquiries. We are waiting to see some results, because we need family doctors to get involved at various stages of the process. We must not get at the point where the health assessment capacity is blocked. Symptomless Covid positives, those who do not obviously need a health assessment don't necessarily have to go to the hospital, the family doctor or a doctor from the Public Health Directorate can do this. We cannot crowd hospitals with people who don't need these services, while letting people who may need hospital care to wait," Orban said at the beginning of the government meeting.

He also spoke about creating intermediary areas for patients who need mechanical ventilation, but do not need intensive care.

"Obviously, we need to increase the treatment capacity in intensive care units and more seriously put to work those intermediary areas. The number of patients who are treated in intensive care units is higher than that of mechanically ventilated patients. An assessment is needed and especially we must set in place these intermediary areas that must be designed so that no one in need for mechanical ventilation is left out," Orban said.

The Prime Minister also mentioned the possibility of partnerships with private companies in order to increase the testing capacity, as well as the Public Health Directorates' response capacity.

"We are further pursuing a clear objective: to increase the testing capacity, and we have discussed the necessary measures. Let there be no obstruction, at exudate collecting either. Careful here, the regulation needs to be fine-tuned for the 112 emergency line not to be overwhelmed by people who are not real emergencies and thus reduce the response capacity of the ambulance service. Here we will have to find a solution to reduce non-emergency calls to 112, by increasing the responsiveness of Public Health Directorates. Where needed, enter partnerships with private companies that specialize in such activities, including call centers, to increase responsiveness. Digitization is again very important so that we can streamline all the processes," Orban said. AGERPRES (RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)