Forty pre-advised employees of retirement age at the National Center for Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Assistance will be laid off. Health Minister Ala Nemerenco said the layoffs will not affect the quality of the Center’s assistance to the public in any way.

The layoffs are a result of an assessment carried out at the Center.

Earlier, the Center’s head Iurie Crasiuc requested the opinion of the respective trade unions about the proposed layoffs. The unions responded that the health care system is facing a staff crisis, and the employees to be laid off are of an “irreproachable reputation”.

Reacting to the criticism, Minister Nemerenco said that while all the 40 employees to be laid off are indeed of “deep retirement age”, the reasons are different. “None of these 40 employees, of whom 27 are non-medical staff, actually worked on ambulances. But perhaps most importantly, most of them are first- or second-degree relatives to the Center’s old leadership. Some of these employees would not even show up for work. Taxpayers’ money just squandered to the detriment of the Center and for filling the pockets of certain families. I presented materials confirming this to the National Anticorrution Center”, said Nemerenco.