Rogobete: the healthcare system is in a financial crisis, urgently requesting funds from Bolojan

Former Health Minister Alexandru Rogobete is raising the alarm over the financial situation in hospitals and is calling on Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan to urgently release funds from the Government's Reserve Fund. According to him, a number of medical facilities are already facing serious shortages that could affect their operations in the immediate period ahead.

Insufficient supplies in emergency departments

Rogobete says he has held discussions with managers of university, county, and smaller hospitals, and the conclusion is worrying: "Emergency departments, unfortunately, have supplies only until the end of the month," the former minister stated.

17 ambulance services with no funds for fuel

According to Rogobete, on the morning of his statement, 17 county ambulance services had been reported as having no funds for fuel, with resources set to run out by the end of the month. The former minister had already warned previously that ambulances risked running out of fuel from 1 October onwards, and that a supplementary allocation from the Reserve Fund would be a solution that would not require waiting for a budget revision.

Funding cuts for critically ill patients

Rogobete points out that the problem extends beyond administrative matters and reaches the national programmes for serious cases. These include intensive care units (ICU) and programmes for patients with stroke, acute myocardial infarction, polytrauma, and severe burns, for which funding has reportedly been substantially reduced.

C.C. Iliescu Institute with no funds for cardiac surgery in September

One of the most serious examples cited by Rogobete concerns the Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases "C.C. Iliescu" in Bucharest. The former minister claims that, for the month of September, the National Health Insurance House (CNAS) allocated not a single leu to the largest open cardiac surgery programmes and other specific cardiac procedures. "What is happening is unprecedented," Rogobete said.

The consequence: from Friday onwards, the institute is set to suspend elective procedures and treat only emergency cases until existing stocks are exhausted.

"The healthcare system is screaming"

Rogobete states that he flagged these issues two weeks ago without receiving any response from the Prime Minister. "Here we are, two weeks later, and the healthcare system is screaming — and rightly so — because they no longer have the means to treat critically ill patients in emergency," he declared.

The call to Prime Minister Bolojan

The former minister believes the solution can be implemented immediately, without waiting for a budget revision: "This crisis can be resolved today if Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan allocates dedicated funds from the Government's Reserve Fund for ambulance services and emergency departments," Rogobete said, adding: "There is no more time for political discussions, political plans, or anything else. In healthcare, we urgently need a swift allocation from the Reserve Fund."