Minister: Romanian healthcare system, more corrupt than underfunded

Health minister Vlad Voiculescu thinks that Romania’s healthcare system is more corrupt than underfinanced, lacking control mechanisms that could guarantee the safety of patients and doctors. Voiculescu, who is in the last days of his office, wrote on Facebook that the Health Ministry will get a political minister in a few days, but that “health has no political color”. The Romanian healthcare system is not “as much underfunded as it is chaotic and corrupt”. The difference can be made by honest doctors, dedicated nurses, civil society, journalists seeking for truth, not by one party or another, the minister added. Voiculescu became health minister at the end of May this year in the Ciolos technocrat Government, after the former minister had resigned amid a large scandal involving the use of diluted disinfectants in public hospitals. Previously, Voiculescu founded a network that has been helping cancer patients in Romania source their cytostatic drugs from abroad. Voiculescu has introduced transparency mechanisms in the last months, such as the hospitals’ obligation to publish procurement contracts of over RON 20,000 (EUR 4,400), a new mechanism allowing patients to leave feedback, and the mechanism to announce the lack of drug stocks. He also introduced an anti-corruption hotline during his mandate and promoted new rules for hiring hospital managers. “Under the society’s strict supervision, these mechanisms could show their effects faster than expected”, Voiculescu wrote on Facebook. He was also very active on social media during his campaign, posting comments about the healthcare system. editor@romania-insider.com