The number of sick days taken in Romania reached 1.83 million in the first quarter of the year, for a country with some 5 million employees. Last year, there were 8.1 million sick days taken during the whole year, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said after the government meeting, adding that RON 6 billion (EUR 1.3 billion) is still to be paid to companies on behalf of last year's medical leave.

Health minister Alexandru Rafila complained recently about the large number of sick days taken in the country, mentioning concerns about "controlling this phenomenon" of sick leave because "we are talking about a lot of public money that is paid."

According to him, there are also fake papers, "any activity of this kind also leads to situations where legality is not respected."

The number of medical leave days reported by the public health body CNAS in Q1 was 8.41 million, meaning an average of 4.5 days per leave, Hotnews.ro reported. The annual figure was around 40 million-45 million days, with an average of 4-5 days per medical leave in 2021-2022.

Notably, CNAS starts counting the medical leave days only after the first five days – which are paid from the budget of the employer. 

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Alexandru Rafila)