Romanian president Klaus Iohannis went to the Matei Bals Institute in Bucharest on Friday, January 29, where five people died after a fire broke out at one of the hospital's buildings. The president sent his condolences to the victims' families and thanked the rescuers for their quick intervention.

In addition, Iohannis also talked about "structural problems in Romanian hospitals" and asked the minister of health to "work quickly on a reform project for the entire health system."

"It is obvious that we need to draw some conclusions quickly and come up with solutions. We had, not long ago, a tragedy in Piatra Neamt, we now have this tragedy here, at Matei Bals, there have been smaller fires at other hospitals and, certainly, the reasons are diverse, they are being investigated, and the investigations will undoubtedly bring to light what happened, who is to blame and the culprits will be punished," the president said.

"But in my opinion, the problem is much broader. In my opinion, we are dealing with structural problems in Romanian hospitals, and I asked the new minister of health […] to work quickly on a reform project for the entire health system in Romania, and I am waiting for the first ideas as soon as possible, in order to be able to start this reform," he added.

The president also thanked the medical personnel for the "superhuman efforts" made in the past year, as they worked under conditions of extreme stress. 

"For those who manage the system, I repeat: a profound reform of the public health system is needed because such things must not happen again," Iohannis said at the end of his statement.

In his turn, prime minister Florin Citu said that the deadly fire at Matei Bals Institute is the result of a lack of investments.

"The shortcomings of the health system have made their presence felt in this tragedy today. Although significant resources have been allocated, of 6.1% of GDP in 2020 alone, only a very small part has been allocated to investments. It's time to understand that we can't go on like this, we can't spend 95% of resources only on salaries and bonuses," Citu said on Friday, according to Digi24.

"To the employees from the administration, from the Ministry of Health, the health inspections, the control inspections, I tell them: get out of the offices, do your job, otherwise you all go home! Each employee has to do the job he is paid to do," the PM added.

Five people lost their lives after a fire broke out at the Matei Bals Institute in Bucharest early Friday morning. The authorities launched the red intervention plan, with dozens of ambulances and vehicles of the fire department being sent to the scene. The fire, which was put out by the firefighters, affected four rooms. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)