Support / Info
Who pays for the journey to treatment
Covered transport to chemotherapy and radiotherapy in Romania — who qualifies and how to ask
If illness means you can no longer travel by car, bus or train, the round trip to chemotherapy or radiotherapy is covered — including when the treatment is in another county. You pay nothing. You ask by calling 112, in advance.
If you can travel on your own, this right does not apply to you. We say so in the first line so you do not lose a day asking for something that will be refused. What is left in your case is written below.
Who qualifies
The law sets a single condition: that you cannot be transported by conventional means — that illness is the reason you cannot get there by car, bus or train. Not the distance, and not what the journey costs.
- The trip from home to radiotherapy or chemotherapy and back, including to another county.
- The trip for treatments given by infusion under special supervision and for parenteral nutrition, including to another county.
- The round trip to the specialist doctor, if you are confined to bed.
- The round trip to the laboratory, for recommended tests and investigations, if you are confined to bed.
- The trip home on discharge, in the situations written into the law — among them after brain surgery and after a transplant.
How to ask, step by step
- Call 112 in advance, not on the morning of the treatment. Say that you are a cancer patient who cannot be transported by ordinary means, where your appointment is and at what time.
- The dispatcher decides what kind of transport is sent.
- Have ready the medical documents that show why the transport is needed: the treatment appointment, the medical letter, the treatment paperwork.
- The transport is carried out by providers under contract with the health insurance house. You pay nothing — they settle directly with the insurance house.
County health insurance houses publish the list of providers they hold contracts with. If you want to know in advance who will come, look for it on your own county house's page.
If you can travel on your own
The transport above does not apply to you — it exists for people who cannot get there any other way. We did not find a general right to have fuel or a train ticket reimbursed for patients who can travel by themselves. What does exist is tied to a disability classification: once the certificate is issued there may be travel passes or transport support, depending on the classification and the option chosen.
See financial rights, including those tied to the certificateIf you are not insured
Cancer patients without income who are enrolled in the national oncology programme are treated as insured until the disease is cured, and receive the whole basic services package — the transport above included. Not being insured is not, in itself, a reason to hold back from asking.
Questions that had no answer
Is transport covered if the treatment is in another county?
Yes. The law says explicitly "including in other counties", both for radiotherapy and chemotherapy and for treatments given by infusion under special supervision.
What does the transport cost me?
Nothing. It is covered from the national health insurance fund, and the transport provider settles directly with the insurance house.
What documents do I need?
The medical documents that justify the transport: the treatment appointment and the paperwork showing the illness and why you cannot travel by ordinary means.
Can I ask if I travel on my own but the journey is long and expensive?
Not under this right. The condition is that you cannot be transported by ordinary means, not that the journey is long. Distance alone does not qualify, however great it is.
Who calls — me or my doctor?
You or someone in your family can call. From what the insurance houses publish, the request is made through 112, and it is justified with the medical documents at the time of transport.
How we know
The situations above are those in the basic services package for unassisted medical transport, published by Romania's National Health Insurance House — points 2.4 and 2.7 to 2.10. Cancer patients appear at point 2.9.
Basic services package for unassisted medical transport (CNAS, PDF)Checked on 05 Aug 2026. Rules can change, and county houses sometimes explain them differently. If you found something else at your own county house, tell us.