I found out I'm pregnant. What do I need to do?
Following the pregnancy by the family doctor
The program for medical visits for pregancy in Romania is:
1. Registering for a general practitioner/ob-gyn doctor/midwife as early as possible in the pregnancy, ideally within 13 weeks and 6 days (3 months) from the start of the last menstrual cycle.
2. The parental consultation (general practitioner/obstetrics and gynecology doctor/midwife) has a rhythm:
- once a month until week 28 of the pregancy
- two times a month between weeks 28-36 of the pregancy
- weekly from week 36 of the pregancy onward, with the possibility of telemedicine for routine consultations.
From these consultations it is recommended that at least one consultation per trimester be carried out by the obstetrics and gynecology doctor.
First consultation
During the first consultation, the pregancy will be confirmed on the basis of some questions about what changes you've noticed lately.
You will also be asked about your health, family illness, births, abortions or health issues in the gynecology sphere (surgery, fertility treatments, etc).
All these answers will determine if your pregnancy is considered normal (with low risk) or high risk.
If you have a low risk pregancy, it can be monitored by the general practitioner, with one ob-gyn visit per trimester, according to the program above.
If you have a high risk pregnancy, you will be monitored by a gynecologist according to the program they recommend.
The general practitioner will measure your blood pressure on every meeting, will prescribe a series of free blood and urine tests, every trimester, and will give you a referral to an ob-gyn once per trimester, for ultrasounds to monitor the pregnancy.
The obstetrics and gynecology doctor
You can address an ob-gyn directly when you suspect you might be pregnant or already have a positive pregnancy test, or with a referral from your general practitioner.
The doctor can give you an ultrasound to confirm that you are pregnant and that the embryo is positioned in the uterus, meaning you do not have an ectopic pregnancy.
This ultrasound is performed transvaginally every 5-6 weeks (the image is obtained with a probe that is introduced in the vagina), or ransabdominally (the probe is applied on the abdomen) after 7 weeks of pregnancy.
Overview and analyzes
On the first medical visit, the doctor can also perform a gynecological examination with valve. They will collect samples for the Babeș-Papnicolau test (pap test), if it was not performed within the past year, and for an alaysis of vaginal discharge, to detect some vaginal infections.
The gynecologist can also prescribe you some blood and urine tests and medication to treat a possible vaginal or urinary infection.
In some hospitals, the gynecologist can recommend you to be admitted for a day for some additional tests. In the majority of cases, there is only a document that justifies these tests, there is no need for you to actually be hospitalised. Such is the case of the TORCH test (testing for toxoplasma, rubella, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex - infections that can substantially impair the fetus), the bi-test done every 9-13 weeks to detect genetic anomalies in the fetus, sometimes morphological ultrasounds.
If you are registered by the gynecologist, they will ask you the same questions about your medical record, family illness, any other pregnancies, abortions or gynecological health problems (surgeries, fertility treatments, etc).
All these questions will determine if you have a pregnancy that is considered normal (low risk) or high risk.
If you have a high risk pregnanc, you will remain primarily in the care of the obstetrics doctor.
Important
Important: the blood and urine tests are free if they are prescribed by the general practitioner or gynecologists who has a contract with the National Health Insurance House (CNAS). Unfortunately, in Romania, the money sum allocated monthly does not cover all the prescribed tests and if you try to get them done after the all the funds for the current month have been used, you will be declined. You can eiter wait for the next month, or pay for the tests upfront.
Pregnancy ultrasounds with a general practitioner referral (one per trimester in the case of low risk pregnancies, when necessary for high risk pregnancies) are free in principle in public hospitals and polyclinics.
Unfortunately, not all the hospirals in the country have ultrasounds with pregnancy probes and/or doctors with the expertise to perform more complex pregnancy ultrasounds, named fetal morphologies. They should be carried out: 1st trimester:
11 weeks + 0 days - 13 weeks + 6 days
2nd trimester: 19-23 weeks
3rd trimester: biometrics around week 32 (the evaluation of the fetus' growth)
It's good to schedule your first ultrasounds right after you found out you are pregnant - slots are limited. If you do not have access to a hospital where ultrasounds are performed, there is the option to pay for the investigations in private healthcare networks, or make use of the Support for refugee women program: +40724772211, a call centre which can help you access these services for free.
GRATUITY (FREE)
All emergency medical services can be accessed for free (in emergency hospitals and sections, ambulance services).
For consultations outside of the emergency medical services, Ukranian citizens can come with an identifying document and a travel document to any provider of medical services in contract with the National Insurance House (CNAS) - hospital, public polyclinics, some clinics or doctors from the private sector. They have access to the basic healthcare coverage package, meaning the one any Romanian citizen with health insurance can use if they pay taxes to CNAS.
The doctor has the obligation to sign you up to the medically insured registration program. An unique registration number will be assigned to you, which you will recieve in a document that the doctor must give you at the end of the consultation. You will be able to access other health services on the basis of your identification document and the unique number written in this document.
Warning: after obtaining right of residence on Romanian territory, Ukranian citizens will have the same access arrangement to healthcare services as Romanian citizens: they will need to pay their contribution to the CNAS fund, be signed up to a general practitioner for general yearly consultations and, excepting emergency situations, will be able to access consultations with medical specialists only with referral tickets from their general practitioner.
More information about medical services for pregnant women
Medical services provided to pregnant women from Ukraine in Romania - starting from the first visit to the doctor: primary health care and supervision of a normal pregnancy. As well as supervision of other high-risk pregnancies. Information on where to find professionals providing the services you need.