A Romanian village doctor made the bold announcement that he will refuse to treat patients who, against his advice, will not accept the COVID-19 vaccine, news television Digi24 reports.
“It is unacceptable to continue working with patients who do not believe in the recommendations they make. People who refuse vaccination, which is their right, show that they do not trust me or what I say,” Petrencic told Digi24’s news program. “In the 33 years of practice I have vaccinated thousands of people, I have done tens of thousands of inoculations and I have had very few and minor side effects. I believe in vaccines, even in the new ones that have appeared or changed in recent years. Vaccination was for me the most important part of the prevention activity. In all these years I had only one person who refused to vaccinate her second child and I asked her to take her file and move to another doctor. That’s what she did.”
“I am country doctor in the country, the office is in the country… 70 kilometers from Bucharest. I posted on my Facebook page the information that I was vaccinated, posted a photo of the vaccination of myself and my assistant. I do not know if I can make a stronger argument in front of a patient in guaranteeing the vaccination,” Petrencic says.
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Petrencic says he is basing his refusal on article 231, paragraph E of the 2006/95 public healthcare law, which says that all those with social insurance must “strictly respect the treatments and indications of the doctor”.
The Romanian Ministry of Health has not yet reacted to the doctor’s refusal, so it remains to be seen whether their interpretation of the law is the same.
Title image: Dr. Cătălin Petrencic, GP in the south Romanian village of Mânăstirea. (still capture of Digi24 video)
