Romanians will receive the new national health card via the post after family doctors refused to hand them out for free.

Originally supposed to distribute the cards, doctors have refused to get involved with the initiative saying they were not being paid for the extra activity.

A million health cards have already been produced, and they should reach their owners by the end of October, according to the National Health Insurance House.

The legislation to allow the distribution via post is however yet to be changed, but the president of the National Health Insurance House Cristian Buşoi hopes the process will be fast.

There isn't yet an estimation of how much it will cost to deliver all the health cards, but Busoi said it could be around several million euros.

The information previously released about the national health card is conflicting.

In earlier official statements, the health card data was to be included on the ID card, rather than on a separate card.

By the end of this year, Romania should have produced 7.3 million health cards, which will include data about the blood group, the RH, major diseases and whether the card holder is an organ donor.

Earlier this year, a contract of some EUR 500,000 was awarded for the production and delivery of European health cards, which gives access to medically necessary, state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in any of the 28 EU countries, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, under the same conditions and at the same cost, or free in some countries, as people insured in that country.

In July 2013, 190 million Europeans held a health card, which allows them to get emergency medical care when traveling across the EU, in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland.

editor@romania-insider.com