Romanian patients can no longer undergo lung transplants at the AKH hospital in Vienna as the institution "unilaterally annulled" the contract based on which these surgeries were performed, said Romanian Health Minister Florian Bodog.

Romania's Health Ministry is in contact with other transplant centers in the Czech Republic and Germany to find alternatives.

Most Romanians in need of a lung transplant were undergoing this surgery at the Vienna hospital as the procedure cannot be performed in Romania. Although a Bucharest lung transplant section received accreditation from local authorities last year, it is not open yet and none of the staff performed a lung transplant before.

Minister Bodog said that clinic’s decision was motivated by a decrease of their capacity. “I think they have a space problem. From what I know, they created a cardio-vascular surgery structure and space is reduced,” Bodog said, quoted by Digi24. He also said the Austrian hospital did not have the right to unilaterally annual the contract.

“All the communication needed to be done through Eurotransplant. I had a discussion with the National Transplant Agency (ANT), they told me they would make an inquiry with Eurotransplant so that we would have an official answer,” Bodog said, quoted by News.ro.

An Eurotransplant coordinator told Digi24 that no Romanian official announced the situation or asked for help. “So far we have not been contacted by the new Health Minister. We have not been officially contacted in the last month. We are waiting to be contacted by Romanian authorities because we want to solve this unbalance that exists,” doctor Dirk van Raedmonck, a member in the Eurotransplant management, told Digi24.

Doctor Victor Zota, who works with the National Transplant Agency, told News.ro that transplant procedures at the AKH clinic were performed based on an agreement that expires on March 31, and the Vienna hospital can no longer extend it as it is narrowing its activity. He also said that ANT is not involved in transplants performed in hospitals abroad as this is something the Health Ministry, the Public Health Divisions and specialized commissions handle and the money are allocated by the ministry.

In his turn, former Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu told Mediafax that the issue that needs to be settled is an “intent letter” signed with Eurotransplant, which is valid until the end of this month and would need to be renewed.

Some 35 Romanian patients underwent a lung transplant procedure at the Vienna AKH hospital in the past ten years, according to ANT.

The lung transplant section at the Sf. Maria hospital in Bucharest was a hot topic in last year’s electoral campaign as the former Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu was accused of endangering lives for deciding not to start the activity at the center.

The former Health Minister argued last year that there were suspicions that the Sf. Maria lung transplant center had been accredited on political pressure. At the same time, Narcis Copcă, the manager of the Sf. Maria hospital filed a legal complaint against the former minister for “abuse of office” after the Health Inspection Authority investigated the way the accreditation for the center was received, Agerpres reported.

Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea also asked Voiculescu at the time to “unblock” the lung transplant procedures at the Sf. Maria hospital. This March, Voiculescu announced he would sue Copcă and mayor Firea for the statements they made concerning the lung transplants at the Bucharest center, Agerpres wrote.

Romanian Health Minister: Lung transplant center will not open without safety guarantees

editor@romania-insider.com