The Future of Healthcare in Romania

In Romania, revolutionary technologies and artificial intelligence are already used in many fields

Corina Cristea, 22.11.2024, 13:45

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that up-to-date health-related data is a critical instrument in effective public health measures and responding to crises. Moreover, the pandemic brought about a massive acceleration in the adoption of digital tools, but, as stakeholders argue, complex obstacles persist that make it difficult for the full potential of digital health data to be achieved.

The European Health Data Space, a key pillar of a strong EU healthcare system, is designed to overcome these obstacles. It is a framework for the exchange of specific health-related data, which establishes clear rules, common standards and practices, digital infrastructures and a governance framework for the use of electronic health data by patients and for research, innovation, policy-making, patient safety, statistics or regulatory purposes. Cristina Berteanu, Ph.D. medical sciences:

Cristina Berteanu: “It is the first European data space that begins with healthcare and completely changes the paradigm, in the sense that the patient has priority over data ownership and can connect with other patients from the member states, but also with doctors in Romania and in all the other member states. Secondly, access to such data by researchers or by policy-makers is very well defined within a legal framework, which has rules for data access. It will bring important progress in discovering new molecules, in creating strategies and public policies, including prevention and customised medicine, because with access to anonymised data, targeted treatments can be created much more precisely and much more easily. Work is already underway on this European data space that will have to be operational as of 2025. This requires significant digitisation in all member states and we hope that we are making progress considering that 207 hospitals in Romania have access to funds for digitisation under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.”

In addition to patients being able to access and share this data more easily, while retaining greater control over it, healthcare professionals will be able to do their job more easily and effectively. Thanks to improved interoperability, they will be able to access a patient’s medical history, thus broadening the set of information relevant to treatment and diagnostic decisions, including when patient data is located in another EU member country.

Also, by supporting the exchange of data between healthcare providers within countries and across borders, healthcare providers will avoid the duplication of tests, with positive effects for patients and healthcare costs. Researchers will have access to larger amounts of representative and high-quality data and will be able to access data in a more efficient and less expensive way, through a data access platform that guarantees patient data confidentiality.

Regulators and decision-makers will also have easier access to healthcare data for more effective policy-making and better operation of evidence-based healthcare systems. This, Brussels says, will lead to better access to healthcare, reduce costs, increase efficiency, strengthen research and innovation and help build more resilient healthcare systems.

Electronic patient records, smart hospitals, the concept of Big Data and the use of artificial intelligence are part of the medicine of the future. And some of them are already present in Romania. The first smart hospital in Romania, a pilot project that will help digitise the entire healthcare system, will be opened in Târgu Mureș. But what does a smart hospital entail? Cristina Berteanu:

Cristina Berteanu: “The use of electronic patient records, telemedicine, cybersecurity, the use of robots in surgery. Also, the use of virtual reality in training medical staff and doctors, as well as Big Data and the development of AI algorithms to use this concept as best we can in various areas of prevention, healthcare strategy, to ensure the quality, precision and speed with which test results are given”.

In Romania, revolutionary technologies and artificial intelligence are already used in many fields, starting with radiology, imaging, radiotherapy, and data collection. The new technologies that are already used in Romanian healthcare help in early diagnosis, in creating personalised treatment plans and in the molecular characterisation of tumors, especially when we talk about cancer, doctor Cristina Berteanu also explained. (AMP)