Professor Ion Mereuta, Doctor Habilitate in Medicine and a member of Moldova’s first Parliament, complains that pressure is being exerted on him because he defends the public interests. In a news conference at IPN, the university professor, who was deputy minister of health, said everything started from the legislative initiative of a group of MPs, which was aimed at decentralizing the oncological service with the intention of building a private oncological center with foreign investment. Later, this bill was endorsed by the Government.
“Everywhere in the world, oncology is controlled by the state. Cancer is the 11th leading cause of general death, second leading cause of death among the population and third cause of disability. The cases of early detection of cancers represent less than 35%. The cases of late detection in the Republic of Moldova represent 27-30%. And how many people die at home without medical care? That’s why the state should undertake to solve these problems,” stated Ion Mereuta.
The professor said he organized many activities, including roundtable meetings that involved all the oncologists of Moldova and these vehemently opposed the ideas of decentralizing the service. Later, a letter was submitted to Parliament, which explained the necessity of modernizing the Oncological Institute so as to keep health and to treat the sick people.
Ion Mereuta said the intentions of the groups with interests are also related to the events of February 2016, when a criminal case over the rigging of public procurement procedures in healthcare was started and 17 managers of public medical-sanitary facilities, including the then director of the Oncological Institute, were arrested. Under the Institute’s regulations and the legislation, the post of director was to be held by the vice director on science. However, as a result of changes made to the status of the institution, the medical vice director was named acting director by order of the minister of health. Afterward, a new struggle to take over the Oncological Institute followed.
The professor noted that under the regulations, only persons who hold scientific titles can occupy this post, but the Ministry of Health, together with the Government, changed the rules of the game and eliminated these requirements. There was introduced a provision stipulating that the stateless persons and those who do not have Moldovan nationality can hold public posts. As he saw that the intention was to introduce persons from outside into the administration of the Oncological Institute, Ion Mereuta went to court and complained about violations of the legislation as the Oncological Institute forms part of the Academy of Sciences and has ten scientific labs and therefore a person without a scientific title or who is not from the field cannot be appointed manager.
Ion Mereuta also asked to suspend the contest to fill the post of director. However, the contest was held the next day. The candidates were he and ex-minister of health Larisa Catrinici, who was chosen the winner. But she is not competent in oncology. “What did they do? They adopted a Government decision by which the Oncological Institute was practically transformed into a hospital so that someone from outside could be named manager and could sign different documents for denationalizing the Institute’s property and the land on which to build a private oncological center, on the territory of the Institute,” said the professor, adding that the case has been tried for almost a year and the hearings are delayed.
Moreover, Ion Mereuta said pressure is being exerted on him and he was blackmailed into withdrawing his claim. In May, he was hit with a hard object by the brother of the Institute’s director and he sought help from the law enforcement bodies, but could not yet obtain the conclusion of the medical-legal examination. The pressure continued and he was warned he would be dismissed from the post of chief of the General Oncology Scientific Lab of the Oncological Institute and from the post of head of the Oncology, Hematology and Radiotherapy Department. He was discharged indeed.
“What do they do to Moldova’s intellectuals? We cannot fulfill our duties owing to them because the mercantile interest in a mafia group is bigger than the medical and social interest or the staff policy interest,” stated Ion Mereuta. He also said that he is not against private medicine, but he considers the oncological service should be managed by the state so that this is accessible to everyone as the people do not have money to go to a private clinic, while the rich ones go to receive treatment abroad. Thus, the stake of the interested group is to obtain that money that remains abroad. The authorities should concentrate on the development of the state oncological system and should not satisfy evil interests, neglecting the public system that is accessible to the whole population.
