Romania is open to support the Republic of Moldova on its path of European integration and this is clearly seen in the projects it supports. This is a big advantage and opportunity that should be mandatorily taken, Ion Prisăcaru, secretary of state of the Ministry of Health, said in a public debate held by IPN News Agency.

“We have very big opportunities owing to the cooperation with Romania, including in the context of the European integration, applying for European funds. We have yet a lot to do to synchronize our activities, including at ministerial level, between medical institutions. We have two similar, but yet different systems, with a roadmap for each of them. Indeed, they are very similar, also due to the absence of linguistic barriers for our mates who take part in these discussions, in partnerships. This is a very great advantage. Respectively, we will surely take each opportunity of co-participation, together with our mates from Romania, in activities, events,” stated Ion Prisăcaru.

According to the secretary of state, there is big openness at political level too and there are concrete examples in this regard. “Under the €100 million grant agreement between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, the “health” component is implemented at the second stage. We have a project that the Government of the Republic of Moldova approved. We are now waiting for the approval of the Government of Romania. This is a project for €3 million assistance to purchase 200 vehicles for primary medical care. There are many such examples. The mates from Romania are fully open to us,” noted Ion Prisăcaru.

He also said that if the accession negotiations with the EU are opened, Romania’s experience will be very useful to Moldova and they already cooperate so as to adjust the health systems to the international standards.

“Together we cover particular steps to reach these standards. Important aspects that are taken into account include the safety of patients, blood transfusion safety, safety of blood transfusion medications, which refer to the observance of the legislation on the protection of personal data, the legislation on organ and tissue transplantation. These are the areas in which we cooperate more intensely. Here, we are actually beginners even if a lot of results were achieved in this sector the past few years,” stated Ion Prisăcaru.

The official expressed his conviction that if Moldova continues its cooperation relations with Romania and with other states, it will be able to faster meet the European standards and its health system will be competitive.

The public debate entitled “Moldovan-Romanian cooperation in healthcare, opened opportunities” was staged in the framework of the project “Double integration through cooperation and information”, which is implemented by IPN News Agency with support from the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova of the Government of Romania.