The merger of “Toma Ciorbă” Infectious Diseases Clinical Hospital with the Dermatology and Communicable Diseases Hospital, by absorption, means joint management and one director who will not be selected from among the current heads of the institutions because there is no proper cooperation with them. The managers not the medical staff are facing redundancy, Minister of Health Ala Nemerenco stated in at a press conference.
“Yes, when two institutions turn into one, there are no longer two directors, four deputy directors and so on. And this really refers to the administration, which forced workers to stage marches,” stated the minister.
Ala Nemerenco noted that no patient who comes to the hospital with a serious infectious disease can be treated by infectious disease doctors because “Toma Ciorbă” Hospital does not have an intensive care unit. It also does not have a pediatric department and a high-performance laboratory. After the merger, the modernization of the laboratory will follow. Subsequently, investments in infrastructure will also be made.
“I inform you that the past year we invested over 5 million lei in infrastructure, equipment, repairs in the current “Toma Ciorba” Hospital and more than 2 million lei in the Dermatology and Communicable Diseases Hospital. A ministry that wants to close something does not make such investments,” said Ala Nemerenco.
The minister noted that in the merging process, medical workers are not dismissed, but each of them will sign an additional contract because the name of the institution for which they work is changed.
Ala Nemerenco considers that the contradictory discussions in the public space regarding the merger of the two hospitals “was very cheap political manipulation”. She added that after the Government decision on the merger of the two institutions is published in the Official Gazette, the Ministry of Health will announce each step it will take.
The Cabinet approved the merger of “Toma Ciorbă” Infectious Diseases Clinical Hospital with the Dermatology and Communicable Diseases Hospital by absorption on December 27.
Since the merger bill was published, the personnel of the two hospitals have issued several public statements and mounted a protest march against the merger. Employees of the medical institutions requested the authorities to renounce the merger and to involve their institutions in projects and grants that would help these to develop. There were also allegations that there was interest in the lot on which “Toma Ciorbă” Hospital is located behind this initiative.
