The government has destroyed health, disrespecting the salaries of medical personnel

Marius Lulea, first vice-president of the AUR, states that the government’s incompetence to solve the problems reported by the medical staff is killing Romanians, and today, over 20 thousand employees of the health system – doctors, assistants, nurses or stretcher bearers – are suspending their work for an hour, after months of failed negotiations with the Ministry of Health. According to him, the warning strike of the medical staff is not a spontaneous one and the current government has known the problems for years and gracefully ignores them.

“The incompetence of the government to solve the problems reported by the medical staff is killing the Romanians. Today, over 20 thousand employees in the health system – doctors, assistants, nurses or stretcher bearers – are interrupting their work for an hour, after months of failed negotiations with the Ministry of Health. An hour when Romanians no longer have access to the medical system. It is an unprecedented measure in recent history,” says Marius Lulea in an official statement.

The AUR representative points out that “the warning strike of the medical staff is not a spontaneous one and the current government has known the problems for years and gracefully ignores them”.

“Just as it did with the teachers, the Government led by Marcel Ciolacu promised salary increases of 20% in health. Because it applies to basic pay, the increase is actually just over 13%. However, wages are not the main problem. The system has been underfunded for 34 years, hospital managers are politically appointed, and doctors who decide to stay in the country work until exhaustion. Eight regional hospitals have promised PNL and PSD in recent years. Out of eight hospitals, four remained, financed only through PNRR. How many have been built so far? ZERO. How much time do they have to build them in order not to lose the European money? Two years. How do these politicians who pave a street in two years think that they will build four regional hospitals? I don’t believe it, I know the truth, but they defy the Romanians”, says Lulea.

He also states that “for three years, the Ministry of Health has been led by the incompetent Alexandru Rafila, an opportunist who does business with the World Health Organization, the same Rafila who profited as much as he could during the pandemic, while keeping them Romanians at home, going on luxury vacations, while cancer patients are protesting at the door of the ministry, mocked by a corrupt system”.

“Medications are more and more expensive, and more recently, for three months, the chronically ill have been taxed because they cannot go to work. Alexandru Rafila is nothing but the servant of the pharmaceutical companies. And this is shown by the latest journalistic investigations, which prove that several pharmaceutical companies appear, even on the official website of the events, as partners and sponsors of the conferences of the Romanian Society of Microbiology, led by Rafila. THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE ANYMORE! In 2023, Romania had the lowest GDP allocation for Health in the last four years. On the other hand, we are the tail-enders of the European Union when it comes to investments in the health system. People die for days in hospitals because of a corrupt system”, says Marius Lulea.

According to him, “Romanians deserve clean hospitals, specialized treatments and, most importantly, preventive measures”.

“In the last year, the AUR Medical Caravan went to many counties in the country. I arrived in villages forgotten by PNL and PSD, where there is not even a family doctor. We come to the government and change the system from the ground up! We will increase the health budget and introduce free and mandatory tests for millions of Romanians”, says Lulea in the press release.