November 2, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 02.11.2023, 13:55

Protest.
In Romania, the employees of the national and county health insurance houses
are today stopping work with the public indefinitely unhappy with the fact that
the authorities are not finding solutions to ensure decent salaries in this
field. According to a statement from the National Trade Union Bloc, the
processing of documents received from services providers, businesses, medical
leave and national health programmes may be seriously disrupted. Trade unions
say that, together with the management of the National Health Insurance Houses,
they tried to solve the salary problems in this institution, proposing draft
legislation to address the issue. The bill was, however, amended by MPs to
include all public sector health workers and withdrawn from Parliament because
of its high financial impact. Health minister Alexandru Rafila said the
interruption in the provision of medical services is unacceptable. He also said
that although the National Health Insurance House has the biggest budget in
Romania, there is a problem related to contribution, as only 5 million people
contribute to the insurance fund, while 19 million benefit from medical
services.

Poll.
An IRSCOP poll using a sample of almost 1,000 respondents shows that 86% of
people in Romania believe the Hamas attack on 7th October in which 1,400
people were killed, is to be condemned. 66% believe Israel has the right to
attack Hamas in Gaza to destroy this organisation, and 78% agree that Romania
should immediately provide humanitarian aid to the civilian population in Gaza.
36% of respondents are more worried about the conflict in the neighbouring
Ukraine than that in Israel, while 35% are equally worried about both. 46%
believe Romania has done too much for Ukraine, while 40% believe it has done as
much as was needed. 79% have little or very little trust in their government’s
ability to protect the population in the event of an armed threat.

Middle
East. The Israeli army announced this morning that it killed dozens of Hamas
operatives during the night, after terror cells in the north of the Gaza Strip
fired antitank missiles, detonated explosive devices and threw grenades. The
Israeli troops again struck the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, where, according
to the Hamas-run administration, almost 200 people were killed. The head of the
UN humanitarian operations Martin Griffiths denounced the strikes as an
atrocity. In Washington, US president Joe Biden called for a pause in the war
to facilitate the release of the over 200 hostages abducted by Hamas from
Israel on 7th October. The foreign ministry in Bucharest says it
knows of three persons with dual Israeli and Romanian citizenship help captive
by Hamas.

Anniversary. Radio Romania on Wednesday
celebrated 95years since its first live broadcast. An awards gala
was held to mark the event, with 12 excellence awards being granted in different
fields, from culture, education and science to multiculturalism and healthcare.
At the end of the gala, Radio Romania’s president and director general Răzvan
Ioan Dincă unveiled the Radio Romania application. More on this after the news. (CM)