w“Cleaning up is not an easy process, but it has begun and it will grow in magnitude”, declared Minister of Health Ala Nemerenco in a Facebook post in reaction to an anti-corruption investigation targeting four senior doctors at the Cancer Institute. She promised that “the Ministry will root out the shameful practices of harassing patients and conditioning (health care)”.

“Where the message has not been properly understood, we will pay visits together with the National Anticorruption Center. The other days in Ialoveni, today at the Cancer Institute, tomorrow somewhere else. This money is being extorted from hardworking people, and I can imagine the sums are not small at all”, the minister wrote.

She added that all the calculations have been prepared and a proposal for essential pay raises for medical staff will be submitted when the budget is to be adjusted. “We understand that doctors and other medical staff want salaries commensurate with the work they do, and also modern conditions at the workplace and modern equipment so that they are able provide high-quality care. We promised to deliver this within a short timeframe. And I have asked for so little in return – a kind and compassionate attitude towards patients and giving up the old habits of taking money, where these practices still exist”, said Ala Nemerenco.

The official added that the Cancer Institute is a strategic institution and the government will invest in it until it meets the requirements of a modern cancer treatment and research center.