Two of Romania’s most visible health experts during the COVID-19 pandemic join race for a seat in the Parliament

Two of the most visible and highly cited health specialists in Romania during the COVID-19 pandemic have decided to run for a seat in the Parliament, on the lists of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). They are Alexandru Rafila, the president of the Romanian Society of Microbiology and Romania’s representative at the World Health Organization, and doctor Adrian Streinu-Cercel, the manager of the Matei Bals Institute of Infectious Diseases in Bucharest.

Alexandru Rafila (opening photo) announced last Thursday, October 15, that he has decided to join the PSD and run in the parliamentary elections on the party’s lists. He will open the PSD list for the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest, local Digi24 reported.

“It was a difficult step for me, but I believe that I have the experience needed to help this country, not necessarily the Social Democratic Party. We need to have health legislation that makes a goal possible: universal access to health services. Intolerance, polarization make collaboration impossible. We need to focus on projects. Being a political party member is an opportunity to make a difference in our daily lives,” Alexandru Rafila said at the press conference organized on October 15.

In his turn, PSD president Marcel Ciolacu, also present at the press conference, said that specialists are needed in the Parliament to make laws for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is clear that the current government is not managing this pandemic. Most of the time, they look for excuses or for someone to blame. People like Dr. Rafila must find themselves in the Romanian Parliament in the future,” Ciolacu said.

Then, on Sunday, October 18, the Social Democrat leader also announced that doctor Adrian Streinu-Cercel (picture below) is also running for a seat in the Parliament. He is second on PSD’s list for the Senate in Bucharest, after the capital’s former mayor Gabriela Firea.

“Professor Streinu-Cercel has been, from the first second, in the front line in the fight against the pandemic. I want to assure him that today he does not make a covenant or a promise to the PSD but continues to make a covenant with the Romanians, and we want the Parliament to benefit from the best specialists in the fight against the pandemic,” Ciolacu said, quoted by