An important sum from the budget allotted to the intelligence services will be redirected towards healthcare programs, Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) said. The funds will go to a program targeting the allotment of vitamin D supplements to children and to programs for diabetics.

“I want a reasonable but important sum from the budget of some intelligence services to be moved to healthcare, for some vital programs for the children of Romania. Allotting vitamin D, which is very important for a person, can be considered a program of national importance and safety. The same goes for the program for diabetics,” Dragnea said, quoted by Mediafax.

The budget draft covers various increases for the budgets of the intelligence services. The budget of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) is of RON 2.4 billion (EUR 510.6 million), 4.8% up compared to last year. The budget of the Special Telecommunications Service is of RON 604 million (EUR 127 million), up 69% compared to last year; that of SPP, the service in charge with the protection of dignitaries, is of RON 233 million (EUR 49 million), up 20%; while that of the Foreign Intelligence Service is of RON 309 million (EUR 65 million), up 8.5%.

Reacting to the news, some doctors and experts explained that vitamin D supplements are only recommended in specific cases.

Physician Vasi Rădulescu explained in a Facebook post that vitamin D is recommended with restricted, clear indications, and not for everyone.

Vlad Mixich, an expert in public policies in the area of healthcare and a medical school graduate, said the World Health Organization does not recommend these types of programs as not enough data prove that vitamin D supplements given to children in mass programs are clearly efficient in preventing malnutrition.

The ruling coalition previously claimed that there is an illegal power structure in Romania, made of SRI, the Anticorruption Directorate DNA and other institutions, which aims to control the local political scene. Last year, it was revealed that SRI signed protocols with several institutions in the local justice system, including the Superior Magistracy Council (CSM), the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ), or DNA. At the beginning of this year, Romania’s Constitutional Court deemed as illegal the prosecutors’ protocols with intelligence services, leaving ongoing court trials involving evidence gathered under these protocols open to reconsideration.

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editor@romania-insider.com