RO deputy PM: There’s no way the Govt. can provide masks for all students and teachers

There’s absolutely no way that the Government can provide face masks for all students and teachers in Romania, deputy prime minister Raluca Turcan said in a press conference on August 22.

She added that each school will have disinfectants and a reserve of masks for poor children or for those who forget their masks at home.

"There are disadvantaged categories that benefit from free masks from the state, through the purchase made by the Health Ministry. From the Government's perspective, we make money available to local public authorities to make a minimum stock of masks and disinfectants in each school, for some situations. Let's say, a child forgets his mask, or he is from a poor family, who has no more masks, but it is absolutely impossible for the Government to provide masks for all the children in this country, and for all the teachers," Turcan said, according to Agerpres.

Meanwhile, the National Council of Students says students need protective materials when they return to school to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection.

"The Romanian Government has a duty to provide these protective materials, as it said in April of this year," the National Council of Students said in a statement.

The Government promised to distribute masks to poor families when it enforced the use of masks in indoor public places. However, no masks have been distributed yet because the firm that won the tender organized by the Health Ministry hasn’t delivered them.

On June 25, a company controlled by Canadian investor Michael Topolinski won the tender organized by the Health Ministry for delivering 115 million face masks to poor families in Romania. Legal disputes delayed the procedure.

On Sunday, August 23, prime minister Ludovic Orban said the Health Ministry would cancel the contract awarded to Topolinski’s firm if it didn’t start delivering the masks on Monday. Meanwhile, Topilinski said his firm paid the contract execution guarantee on Friday and that the contract is on track, according to G4Media.ro.

(Photo source: Gov.ro)