The Fundeni Clinical Institute, the „C.C. Iliescu” Institute and the Bucharest Oncology Institute (IOB) are priorities for investments in health and must be placed on a common platform that integrates costs and management, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Monday.

Ciolacu paid a working visit to Fundeni, in the context of World Health Day, which is marked on April 7.

„We are in the largest hospital institution in Romania. In my point of view, investments in health should have started here. These are the priorities. We have Fundeni, we have ‘C.C. Iliescu’, we have the IOB, all three should be on an integrated platform, so that costs and management, even if it is done by consortium, should all be integrated. (…) We cannot have health performance in 65 years old buildings, it is obvious that they are outdated. It is obvious that whatever the state invests, it is money wasted. We have seen how much money the Ministry of Health invested in 2023 in a laboratory that would still be able to cope with an entire platform,” said Ciolacu.

He mentioned the decision made in the Government regarding the future investment at the Fundeni Clinical Institute.

„Together with the minister, we made this decision two weeks ago, in the Government meeting, to approve the indicators for the future platform at Fundeni, almost a 500 million euro investment, both from the POS, from the current financial year, but also from the EIB loan and the state budget. We have ‘C.C. Iliescu’ already passed through the PNRR. We will see the approach with the Oncology Institute, because all three must be approached as a unit. We talk a lot about health, we talk about the need for medical care in every county, in every commune, in every locality, but we are at Fundeni, at ‘C.C. Iliescu,’ at the Oncology Institute, where lives are really saved. This is where urgent cases come, where kidney and liver implants are performed,” the PM pointed out.

According to him, the University Emergency Hospital must also be a priority for the authorities.

„As a matter of fact, health care is provided here, just as it is at the University Hospital. That’s why the University Hospital, apart from the fact that it provides health care, it also produces future doctors, future nurses. University centres and such hospital institutions as Fundeni and the University Hospital are priorities. I repeat, I don’t think that you, as doctors, even if you are also managers, have to thank any mayor or any prime minister or anyone who got involved in these projects. I think that there should be a much clearer coordination among the General City Hall, hospitals, the Ministry of Health and the Government,” Ciolacu said.

He also stressed the importance of attracting European funds for these projects.

„We no longer have time for excuses, we no longer have time for arguments. These are the last moments when Romania can access almost 70 billion euros. If we have lost these 3-4 years, from this moment on, Romania can no longer catch up, because European priorities always become totally different. Now is the time to have no more excuses and to push things forward,” added Ciolacu.

AGERPRES