Romania’s Health Minister has been sacked

Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has signed a decree sacking the countrys Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu. The decision has serious political consequences and comes at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has gained momentum in Romania

Marius Tiţa, 14.04.2021, 14:00

It is difficult to say whether this
moment is ending a complicated situation within the government in Bucharest or
is actually deepening the crisis of a very sensitive ruling formula. Although
Vlad Voiculescu was seemingly ready to carry on with the job, the country’s
Prime Minister Florin Citu decided to call on the president to sack Minister
Voiculescu. The last straw seems to have been the release of some regulations
on the quarantine measures to be imposed on some regions without the consultation
of the Prime Minister or state secretary Raed Arafat, head of the Department
for Emergency Situations, presently coordinating Romania’s fight against the
Covid-19 pandemic.

Andreea Moldovan, a controversial
state secretary with the Health Ministry, has also been sacked. She is the one
to have signed the new quarantine criteria. Vlad Voiculescu’s resignation has
been asked for quite some time now by the public opinion and politicians alike.

The former Minister’s support
came from the alliance, which proposed him for this position. USR Plus boasts
the largest number of votes in the ruling coalition second only to the National
Liberal Party (PNL), which has also nominated the Prime Minister

After the legislative elections
in December, Florin Citu’s cabinet has been forged and enjoyed support from the
PNL, USR Plus and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. In
Parliament it also benefits from the support of the Group of National
Minorities in Romania.

In other words, every MP of this
parties must enjoy support so that the government may function in its present formula.
Vlad Voiculescu’s mandate took place against the dramatic background of the
pandemic, which is seeing its third wave these days in Romania. Furthermore,
the last 4 months of this government have seen tragic events, which enraged the
Romanian society. In late January, a blaze ripped through the section where the
most severe Covid-19 cases were being treated at the National Institute for
Infectious Diseases Matei Balş in Bucharest killing five patients. Others died
later from wounds in the hospitals they were transferred to.

Already under public scrutiny,
the country’s healthcare system grabbed the highlights again on April 9th,
after live transmissions from the evacuation of the orthopedic hospital Foisor
in Bucharest had been aired. Foisor was to be turned into a hospital for the
exclusive treatment of Covid infections but live footages during the evacuation
process at midnight in cold weather have enraged the Romanians. Political
reactions seemed to have been appeased on Monday in the wake of the USR’s
support for its minister. However, on Tuesday, a new tragedy struck at another
major hospital in Romania, the Victor Babes hospital for the treatment of
infectious diseases. The faulty functioning of the oxygen machines fitting a
mobile unit for the treatment of Covid-infected patients killed another three
people at the aforementioned hospital.

(bill)