Key Activities:

The Romanian Blood & Beyond initiative, Blood Unit, hosted a key roundtable at the Romanian Parliament on October 24, 2023. The event was a platform for various stakeholders to discuss the 2nd white paper by the Romanian Blood Unit Coalition. The white paper aims to improve the Romanian transfusion system for patients. The event had about 60 participants, including EU and RO Parliament members, Romanian Presidency, Health and Finance ministries, NDA and NHIH regulators, healthcare professionals, patient advocacy associations, and the media. This was an important step in the local Blood & Beyond initiative, showing a shared dedication to positive change and action.

Achievements:

The Blood Unit coalition launched the 2nd Blood & Beyond local white paper at the roundtable. The white paper was a joint effort of the Blood Unit Coalition, which includes groups like the Romanian Society of Hematology, Romanian National Blood Transfusion Society, Coalition of Romanian Chronic Disease Patient Organizations, and the Federation of Associations of Cancer Patients.
The white paper showed their commitment to work together. The white paper proposed a detailed plan to implement the recommendations from the 2022 white paper and recommend Romanian alignment with the EU Regulation on Substances of Human Origin (SoHO). The main goal was to change Romania’s blood transfusion system for the better.
The event also sparked discussions among stakeholders about the need to (1) inform and educate the public and healthcare professionals about the new EU legislation on blood transfusion and (2) build on the partnerships and results from 2022 with the vision of improving, innovating, and optimizing blood management in Romania for the patients.