All the ex-ministers of health of Moldova, except for those who held office after 2009, call on the leaders of the Alliance for European Integration (AEI) 3 to ensure continuity in the health system, including by keeping the current ministerial team and the related bodies. In an open letter addressed to Vladimir Filat, Marian Lupu and Mihai Ghimpu, the former health ministers express their concern about the ‘political castling’ at the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, which was agreed when formulating the agreement to form the AEI 3, and about the possible negative effects on the process of modernizing the health system, IPN reports.
“Following with great hope the formation of the new Government and examining the political agreement on the formation and functioning of the AEI 3, we reached the conclusion that it is our duty to state our opinion on the future of the health sector. The health system, as the whole country, goes through complex reshuffling and reforms that are very necessary in difficult economic conditions and for improving the quality of the medical services and increasing the satisfaction of the people and medical workers,” reads the statement.
According to the former ministers of health, the current ministerial team, in efficient cooperation with the Government, Parliament, the external development partners, the State University of Medicine and Pharmaceutics, the National Health Insurance House, the academic community and civil society managed to ensure stability in the system and to initiate a series of courageous changes of strategic importance for the health sector.
“We remind you that the team of the Ministry of Health adjusts its activities to the requirements of the external and development partners. We firmly support the recent statements of the World Health Organization Representative Jarno Habicht, the World Bank Country Manager Alex Kremer and of a number of members of Moldova’s Parliament, who underlined the necessity of continuity and sustainability of reforms in the system and of supporting the commitments of the ministerial team in promoting sector reforms,” say the signatories of the open letter.
The ex-ministers are concerned about the possible negative effects of the shifting of responsibilities at political level in relation to the Ministry of Health. “The ‘political castling’ of the ministerial teams from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family and possibly of those from the National Health Insurance House and the National House of Social Insurance, negotiated by the AEI 3, involves major risks for the continuity of the reforms initiated in both of the sectors. These are the most sensitive areas. They refer to the social values, family and health, which require complex activities,” said the authors.
They suggest keeping the sector teams in the current formula so as not to delay the achieving of the government priorities set out in the agreement, namely to implement pro-active social policies, to protect the family, to increase the people’s welfare and the living standards and to improve the national health insurance, social insurance and pension systems.
In this regard, six former ministers of health call upon the political leaders and the parties that formed the AEI 3 to make sure that the current policies and strategies in the health and social systems are maintained as these were highly appreciated by the medical community and the development partners.
The open letter was signed by Gheorghe Ghidirim (minister of health in 1990-1994), Mihai Magdei (1997-1998), Vasile Parasca (1999-2001), Valerian Revenco (2005), Ion Ababii (2005-2008), and Larisa Catrinici (2008-2009).
