Romanian cardiac surgeon schooled in France could be the next health minister

Victor Costache, a 45-year old cardiovascular surgeon who trained as a resident surgeon in France, is PM-designate Ludovic Orban’s proposal for health minister. Costache was heard by the Parliament’s specialty committees on Tuesday, October 29. He talked about his solutions for the most urgent problems in Romania’s public health system and the malpractice investigation targeting him.

Costache said one of his priorities is to unblock the residency exam, together with the new education minister, because the country needs new doctors. “We won’t change the rules during the game, the exam will take place based on the established curricula,” Costache said during the hearing in the Parliament, according to G4media.ro.

He also said that no public hospital in Romania would be closed, addressing rumors that the new Government plans to close hospitals that lack the necessary personnel.

When asked to share his thoughts about mandatory vaccination, Costache said he opposes radical solutions. “We must focus on communication, make mothers understand why vaccination is important,” he said.

Costache was also asked about the malpractice case against him. (A priest accused him of negligence after his wife died within a week after a heart surgery performed by Costache in 2017. The prosecutors investigating the case haven’t officially charged the doctor of any wrongdoing.) “If I become a suspect, I will resign immediately,” he said. Addressing another question, he said the law of malpractice needs to be changed because such cases are always treated as criminal cases. “How do we encourage young doctors who want to specialize in surgery and neurosurgery, because we have a legislative void and a malpractice case can immediately become a criminal case. We must all think of a European solution so that these situations are better managed in the future,” he said, quoted by Libertatea.

Victor Costache, 45, is the medical director of the Polisano private hospital in Sibiu and an advisor to PNL president and PM-designate Ludovic Orban for the health sector, according to Mediafax.