- Healthcare in Romania for Indian Residents: A Practical Guide from Prevencia
Free guides in English, Hindi, Tamil and Bengali explain family doctors, health insurance and how to prepare for a medical visit.**
Moving from India to Romania involves more than arranging accommodation, work or study. There is also a practical question worth answering early: where will you go when you need a doctor?
Should you register with a family doctor? Can you contact a specialist directly? Which documents should you bring? And how can you understand the process before you are comfortable speaking Romanian?
Clinica Prevencia, a medical clinic in Bucharest, has created free multilingual guides to help newcomers navigate these questions. Prevencia’s English-language guide introduces the main routes into Romanian healthcare, from routine appointments to specialist consultations.
Start by checking your health insurance status
Before arranging non-emergency care, establish how the visit will be paid for. Access to publicly funded services depends on your circumstances, insurance status and the provider’s arrangements with the health insurance system.
You will encounter two abbreviations: CNAS, Romania’s National Health Insurance House, and CAS, used for the local health insurance houses.
Do not rely only on a general assurance that you “have insurance.” Ask which system or policy covers you, whether your status is active and what evidence the clinic needs. Romania’s public insurance system provides an online insured-status verification service using the CNP, the Romanian personal identification number.
For example, when contacting an employer or insurer, ask: “How can I confirm my healthcare coverage, and who should I contact if the clinic cannot verify it?” This is more useful than assuming that everyone who has moved to Romania follows the same administrative route.
A private clinic does not always mean paying privately
Romania’s publicly funded healthcare system and private clinics are not entirely separate. Some private providers have contracts with the health insurance system and deliver covered services to eligible patients.
However, a clinic’s participation does not mean every doctor, test or appointment is covered. Confirm the arrangements for the specific service you need.
For a self-funded specialist consultation, you can generally contact the clinic directly without a referral. Ask for the consultation price and whether any recommended investigations would be charged separately.
A useful question is: “Is this appointment through public insurance or self-pay, and what documents or charges apply?”
Find a family doctor for ongoing care
A family doctor, known in Romanian as a *medic de familie*, is an important starting point for everyday healthcare. They can assess health concerns, provide follow-up and issue referrals or prescriptions when appropriate.
If you intend to use publicly funded care, ask about registering on a family doctor’s patient list. A referral, called a *bilet de trimitere*, is commonly needed for covered specialist consultations or investigations. Confirm the requirements for your particular visit rather than assuming the same rule applies to every service.
When contacting a practice, ask whether it accepts new patients, which registration documents it requires and which language is available for consultations.
Think beyond the first appointment. Ask how to arrange follow-up, discuss existing treatment and contact the practice about future medical needs.
Prepare your documents before the appointment
Use the following as a preparation checklist, then confirm the exact requirements with the clinic:
- Identification and residence documents: your passport or other identification, together with your residence permit and CNP where applicable.
- Insurance and referral documents: the evidence of coverage requested for your circumstances and a referral when required.
- Medical history: previous test results, discharge summaries, prescriptions and a list of current medicines.
Keep administrative paperwork and medical records together, but explain what each document is. A useful opening sentence is: “These are my previous results, and this is the treatment I currently take.”
Before leaving, ask what happens next: whether you need tests, how you will receive the results and whether a follow-up consultation is recommended. Request clarification whenever an instruction is unclear.
Choose information in a language you understand
Reading about healthcare in English may be convenient, but it is not the preferred option for every patient. Someone arranging a consultation for a parent or another family member may need information in a different language.
Readers who prefer Hindi can read the guide in Hindi. Prevencia also publishes Tamil and Bengali versions covering the same essential topics, including the healthcare system, family doctors and appointment preparation.
These are written information resources. Their availability does not mean consultations are offered in every language listed.
Prevencia describes its team as speaking Romanian and English. Confirm the language available for your specific appointment before attending. If you need language assistance, discuss the options with the clinic in advance rather than assuming an interpreter will be present.
It can also help to write down your questions beforehand. For example: “What does this result mean?”, “What should I do next?” and “When should I return?”
Know the difference between planned care and an emergency
A clinic can be the appropriate setting for a planned consultation, follow-up or routine investigation. An emergency requires a different response.
In Romania, call **112** for a medical emergency. Foreign citizens can use the emergency number as well. Do not wait for a routine appointment or finish checking insurance paperwork before seeking emergency help.
For non-emergency care, confirm that the provider offers the service you need before travelling there.
A practical resource to keep and share
The Prevencia for All multilingual guides bring together free patient information in 22 languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil and Bengali.
The guides are free to read; this does not mean every medical consultation or investigation is free. Costs and eligibility must be confirmed for the individual patient and service.
For Indian residents settling in Romania, the aim is practical: understand your coverage, identify where to seek routine care, prepare the documents and ask questions in a language you understand. Save the relevant guide alongside your medical records, or share it with someone preparing for their first appointment.
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