Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said on Thursday that in recent months he had noticed that at the Administration of Hospitals and Medical Services in Bucharest (ASSMB) „there has been a great deal of commotion” in terms of ongoing criminal investigations and problems related to the functioning authorisation of some hospitals.

Minister Rafila was asked to comment on the situation at ASSMB, where the director was accused by prosecutors of receiving bribes.

„As I have always done, when it comes to an ongoing criminal investigation, I am reserved, I cannot comment. It is normal that this should be the case, because the criminal investigation should not be influenced by statements made by people who work in the administration or are in the political area. However, I cannot help but notice that in recent months there has been a great deal of commotion at ASSMB, both from this point of view, of the criminal investigations in progress, and from the point of view of some problems that we have reported through the Public Health Directorate of Bucharest regarding the authorisation of some hospitals and the fact that they have not even requested or have requested in the last minute health permits to operate. This is something that concerns us because it is directly related to the safety of patients and the Public Health Directorate is trying to find the best solutions so that these things can be resolved in a short time. As for the rest, I have no comment about the director of ASSMB, we are waiting for the investigation,” said Rafila at the Palace of Parliament.

Director General of the Administration of Hospitals and Medical Services of Bucharest (ASSMB) Oana Sivache is accused by National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) prosecutors of having received a bribe from the manager of Coltea Hospital, Ioan-Bogdan Furtuna, consisting of the payment of rent and utilities for a building in Bucharest that she would have occupied with her family.

Gabriela-Oana Sivache is being investigated under judicial control for bribe taking and Ioan-Bogdan Furtuna, interim manager at the Coltea Clinical Hospital in Bucharest, is also being investigated under judicial control for bribery.

During the period of judicial control, the two are banned from exercising their functions, DNA said.

AGERPRES