The plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies adopted, on Wednesday, a draft law according to which patients can make donations to the health units where they were treated, in compliance with the legal provisions on the matter.

283 deputies voted „for” and 20 abstained.

The legislative proposal aims to eliminate the possibility for patients to offer additional payments and donations to employees of the hospitals where they were treated, but to maintain their option to offer donations to healthcare facilities.

„The patient can make donations to the health unit where he was treated, in compliance with the legal provisions on the matter,” states the bill adopted by the deputies.

According to the explanatory memorandum, „giving a gift to the doctor represents a constant in the behavior of the Romanian patient, caught in the middle in the struggle between the right to gratitude and the criminal implications of such a gesture.”

The initiators, several Save Romania Union (USR) deputies, specify that, over the years, this practice „has received various interpretations from different segments of the population, and the legislative framework, although it has undergone several modifications, does not offer a completely clear answer.”

„Beyond the aforementioned aspects, we do not want to completely cancel the patient’s right to gratitude. It may be true in certain situations, which is why we support that it should only be manifested through donations sent to the medical unit where the patient was treated, and not to doctors or other employees of the health centers,” the explanatory statement explains.

USR deputy Emanuel Ungureanu, one of the initiators, stated, after the vote, that this bill „does not legalize bribery.”

„Patients must be taught by doctors that a word of thanks and a prayer are enough. Doctors are the ones responsible for telling patients who want to support a hospital as a form of gratitude for the quality medical act they received that this can only be done through a legal donation to the health unit. Any other form of gratitude from patients towards doctors or other hospital employees is prohibited by law. (…) What did we approve today? Not the legalization of bribery, as we saw some false headlines in the media, but we legalized the form through which any person who wants to support a hospital as a form of gratitude for the good that was done to them can do so legally. Bribery cannot be legalized,” Ungureanu declared.

The bill was rejected by the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making body.

AGERPRES