First donation-funded hospital in Romania: NGO reps say health minister made threats over contributions received

The founders of Dăruieşte Viaţa, the NGO building the first hospital in Romania financed from private donations, say health minister Sorina Pintea threatened them she would notify the prosecutors if they do not hand over to the state the EUR 26 million raised from donations, G4media.ro reported.

Carmen Uscatu and Oana Gheorghiu, the representatives of the NGO, told G4media.ro that they received the threat this past Friday, during a meeting held at the Marie Curie Hospital in the capital. The two say that Pintea told them that, unless they send the EUR 26 million raised for the building of the hospital, she would notify several control institutions of the state.

“She spoke a lot about the illegalities we allegedly committed. Ms. Sorina Pintea told us that the money we raised needed to have been sent to the accounts of the hospital [e.n. Marie Curie Hospital}, to the accounts of the Romanian state. She said it very clearly that she would notify the appropriate institutions, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), the Court of Accounts. She was suggesting that we did not build it legally and that the Romanian state had to do it by holding auctions and, as such, we had to give the money to the state,” the two told G4media.ro.

They also explained that the discussion took place at the administration meeting of the Marie Curie Hospital.

Minister Pintea declined to answer the G4media.ro questions on the topic. She said however that 15 people attended the meeting and urged the journalists to check the information with those who attended.

“At the meeting on October 18, at the Marie Curie Hospital, 15 people were present. The manager, the medical director, the members of the board of administration, dr. Stanciu, dr. Carstoveanu and the members of the association. It was, the rest of us thought, a work meeting that lasted 3 hours. As such, it would be good if you asked the others who were present and who, I am convinced, will tell the truth unbiasedly.”

The Daruieste Viata Association, founded by Oana Gheorghiu and Carmen Uscatu, initiated the project of building a hospital for children with cancer in 2015. The construction of the hospital started in December 2017 and should be completed in June 2020. The project is estimated at EUR 26 million, of which EUR 16 million covers the construction and EUR 10 million – the medical equipment. The NGO has raised EUR 15 million from over 1,700 companies and 260,000 individual donors for this project, making this the largest initiative of this kind in Romania. Once the hospital is finished, it will be donated to the Romanian state.