Radio România Internațional

Tag: Romanian Health Minister Sorina Pintea

  • May 1, 2018 UPDATE

    May 1, 2018 UPDATE

    MILITARY – On Tuesday, the US Ambassador to Bucharest Hans Klemm voiced his deep regret over the wounding in Afghanistan on Monday of eight Romanian soldiers, during a patrol mission. The US ambassador conveyed his and the USs message of appreciation for the Romanian soldiers participation in the NATO missions, aimed at restoring freedom and democracy in areas seriously affected by war. President Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and Defense Minister Mihai Fifor also sent messages of encouragement and support to the families of the wounded soldiers. Seven of them have already been released from hospital, and the eighth has been sent to Germany, for further investigations and treatment. Romania is taking part in the NATO mission in Afghanistan with 625 military staff, while another 300 soldiers are deployed in operations carried out under the EU, UN and OSCE command in different regions of the world. So far, 29 Romanian soldiers have died and 185 have been wounded in operations abroad.



    PROTEST – The Romanian Health Minister Sorina Pintea will hold a fresh meeting with trade union representatives on Wednesday, in order to find solutions for their discontent. Last week, thousands of employees in the sector attended a protest meeting in Bucharest. Several staff categories in the health-care sector say their incomes have dropped as a result of the implementation of the latest salary regulations. Among other things, they call for the elimination of the 30% cap on benefits. Trade unionists have announced that last weeks meeting will be followed by a warning strike on May 7th, which could be followed by an all-out strike on the 11th of May.



    FRONTEX – A Romanian Coast Guard vessel will patrol along the European borders in the Aegean Sea for three months. The ship has left the port of Mangalia, on the Romanian Black Sea Coast, to join the operation organized by FRONTEX (the European Border and Coast Guard Agency). The crew, made up of 26 border police officers, will carry out individual patrol, research, search and rescue missions. Also, the Border Police will post one officer at the operations Coordination Center in Piraeus, to maintain the link between the Romanian ship and the bodies that are taking part in the mission. The European operation is aimed at managing illegal migration in the Aegean Sea.



    1 MAY – While in other countries across the world the International Labour Day is used as an opportunity to ask for pay rises or better working conditions, in Romania people celebrate May 1st by traveling, hiking or just partying. As early as Friday afternoon, dozens of thousands of tourists, mostly Romanian, but also foreign, hurried to the mountain, sea and Delta resorts. On the Black Sea Coast, the main attraction were the fancy clubs in Mamaia, while in the Danube Delta, which is part of the UNESCO heritage, tourists took advantage of the beautiful weather to spend time in a unique natural place. Also crowded were the resorts in Prahova Valley, Sinaia in particular. Celebrating May 1st is tradition for most Romanians, and, as regards food, one particular must these days are the so called mititei, made of minced meat and herbs. According to specialists in the field, during this years May 1st mini-holiday, Romanians grilled no less than 30 million mititei, which is 15% more than last year.



    EUROVISION – “The Humans”, the band representing Romania at the 2018 Eurovision contest, have arrived in Lisbon and are rehearsing for the big day. In the coming days, the Romanian artists will also take part in the concerts included in the programme and also in a special event hosted by the Romanian Embassy in Portugal. On May 10th, “The Humans” will perform, in the second semi-final, a song titled “Good Bye”. If they manage to qualify, “The Humans” will take part in the final, on May 12th. The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest will bring on the Lisbon stage representatives of 43 countries. (translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)

  • May 1, 2018

    May 1, 2018

    1 MAY – While in other countries
    across the world the International Labour Day is used an opportunity to ask for
    pay rises or better working conditions, in Romania people celebrate May 1st
    by traveling, hiking or just partying. As early as Friday afternoon, dozens of
    thousands of tourists, mostly Romanian, but also foreign, hurried to the
    mountain, sea and Delta resorts. On the Black Sea Coast, the main attraction
    are the fancy clubs in Mamaia, while in the Danube Delta, which is part of the
    UNESCO heritage, tourists are taking advantage of the beautiful weather to
    spend time in a unique natural place. Also crowded are the resorts in Prahova
    Valley, Sinaia in particular. Celebrating May 1st is tradition for
    most Romanians, and, as regards food, one particular must these days are the so
    called ‘mititei’, made of minced meat and herbs. According to specialists in
    the field, during this year’s May 1st mini-holiday, Romanians will
    grill no less than 30 million ‘mititei’, which is 15% more than last year.






    PROTEST – The Romanian Health Minister
    Sorina Pintea will hold a fresh meeting with trade union representatives on
    Wednesday, in order to find solutions for their discontent. Last week,
    thousands of employees in the sector attended a protest meeting in Bucharest.
    Several staff categories in the health-care sector say their incomes have
    dropped as a result of the implementation of the latest salary regulations.
    Among other things, they call for the elimination of the 30% cap on benefits.
    Trade unionists have announced that last week’s meeting will be followed by a
    warning strike on May 7th, which could be followed by an all-out
    strike on the 11th of May.








    FRONTEX – A Romanian Coast Guard vessel
    will patrol along the European borders in the Aegean Sea for three months. The
    ship has left the port of Mangalia, on the Romanian Black Sea Coast, to join
    the operation organized by FRONTEX (the European Border and Coast Guard
    Agency). The crew, made up of 26 border police officers, will carry out
    individual patrol, research, search and rescue missions. Also, the Border
    Police will post one officer at the operation’s Coordination Center in Piraeus,
    to maintain the link between the Romanian ship and the bodies that are taking
    part in the mission. The European operation is aimed at managing illegal migration
    in the Aegean Sea.






    AFGHANISTAN – The eight Romanian soldiers
    who got wounded in a suicide attack in Afghanistan on Monday are stable, and
    they are getting medical care in Kandahar. The Romanian Defense Minister Mihai
    Fifor has announced that he is permanently updated on their condition.
    President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Viorica Dancila have sent messages
    of encouragement and support to the families of the wounded soldiers. Romania
    is taking part in the NATO mission in Afghanistan with 625 military staff,
    while another 300 soldiers are deployed in operations carried out under the EU,
    UN and OSCE command in different regions of the world. So far, 29 Romanian
    soldiers have died and 185 have been wounded in operations abroad.










    EUROVISION – The Humans, the band representing
    Romania at the 2018 Eurovision contest, have arrived in Lisbon and are
    rehearsing for the big day. In the coming days, the Romanian artists will also
    take part in the concerts included in the programme and also in a special event
    hosted by the Romanian Embassy in Portugal. On May 10th, The
    Humans will perform, in the second semi-final, a song titled Good Bye. If
    they manage to qualify, The Humans will take part in the final, on May 12th.
    The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest will
    bring on the Lisbon stage representatives of 43 countries.






    TABLE TENNIS – The Romanian women’s table
    tennis team is today playing against the teams of Taiwan and North Korea, in
    the last matches that are part of Group C of the World Championships hosted by
    Halmstat, Sweden. Yesterday, Romania defeated Poland 3-1. North Korea is
    currently topping the rankings, followed by Taiwan and Romania, which have the
    same number of points. In the men’s competition, in Group A, Romania’s team was
    defeated by Germany 3-nil on Monday, but also won the match against Slovenia,
    3-1. Today, Romania is playing against Egypt and tomorrow it will take on the
    team of Hong Kong. In this group, Romania ranks fourth, on equal points with
    Slovenia. The teams ranking first, second and third in each group will qualify
    for the next round, and the winners of the fourth groups will go straight to
    the quarters. (translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)

  • Protests announced in public healthcare

    Protests announced in public healthcare


    In the nearly 30 years since the anti-communist revolution in Romania, public healthcare has remained a problem that none of the successive governments has managed to solve, that is to come up with a set of reforms able to improve medical services and to motivate staff to stay and work in the country. Against the background of chronic under-funding in the system, this has triggered a massive migration flow among doctors and nurses, who went abroad for better paid jobs.



    Until recently, minor pay raises failed to keep healthcare staff from leaving the country, but gradually, starting last year, things appear to have changed from one month to the other. The net incomes of public healthcare staff have risen substantially, perhaps more than the wages of any other public employees in Romania. Even so, trade unions are rather unhappy with salaries and bonuses, and on Monday they announced protests that might go as far as to an all-out strike.



    The incumbent Healthcare Minister Sorina Pintea says there are no reasons for a strike, and gives the example of senior consultants, whose incomes have increased from a rough 1,700 euros to over 2,700 euros, which is comparable to the salary of a fellow physician in any European Union country.



    Sorina Pintea: “A senior consultant in an internal medicine unit benefits from a 15% pay raise. In December 2017 such a doctor made 7,650 lei per month, in March 2018 they earn 12,481 lei. So as you can see, these are no small salaries. And as long as incomes are not dropping, I can see no reason for an all-out strike. It would be hypocritical of them to go on strike, in my opinion. I believe we can negotiate and find solutions to all problems, but we should not forget that further bonuses can also be paid from the independent revenues of hospitals, for instance revenues from healthcare services provided on demand.”



    Bonuses are indeed one of the bones of contention as far as trade unions are concerned, because they have been restricted to a maximum 30% of the salary, which the unionists regard as “terrible.” The president of the Sanitas Union Federation, Leonard Barascu, reviews the demands of trade unions:


    “We want salary increases to be applicable to all fellow employees in the healthcare and social assistance sector. We also want the elimination of that 30% cap on bonuses, which makes it very difficult for us to pay the bonuses stipulated in the relevant regulations and which we are currently negotiating; and we want the offsetting of the income losses that some of our colleagues have incurred because of the transfer of social security contributions from employers to employees.”



    Beyond these talks, the reforms in the sector continue, and Romania is to receive EU-funded grants of 650,000 euros in order to revise its Healthcare Law, an effort which is also supported by the World Health Organisation.


    (Translated by Ana Maria Popescu)