Accesul populaţiei din România la îngrijiri de sănătate mintală în timpul pandemiei de COVID-19

The new context that appeared both in Romania and worldwide – the COVID-19 pandemic – tested the healthcare system in all countries. Considering that the epidemics and pandemics can influence the emergence of psychiatric disorders, the population’s needs regarding metal healthcare are growing. The emergency state decreed on a national level along with the military enactments that followed-up restricted travel and therefore made the healthcare access difficult. One of the legislative measures that diminished the difficulties of accessing the psychiatric hospitals was the introduction of legalized telemedicine, implicitly telepsychiatry. From a structural point of view, a key role in facilitating the healthcare access is represented by the resources distribution at the national level. The present study analyzed both the human resource distribution as well as the psychiatry hospital beds, by types of care, on a socioeconomic macroregional and geographical zone level in Romania, as defined by Eurostat (macroregions – MR). The admission to hospitals trend in Romania was also studied.