The ambulance of discord

A donated ambulance van for the Calarasi District Hospital stirred up a dispute in Parliament on Thursday as the Communist Party opposed the initiative of a group of MPs to allow the vehicle to enter the country as an exception to the 7-year age limit for imported cars, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Volkswagen van made in 1996 was donated by a medical establishment from the Italian Aosta Valley, through a legislative initiative by unaffiliated MPs Valentina Cusnir and Vlad Filat and MP Alexandru Oleinic of AMN. The parliamentary commission for economic policy, budget and finance recommended the initiative to be rejected, and so the Communist majority ultimately did. The commission argued the motion would establish a precedent deviant from the legislation. MP Gheorghe Popa, the deputy chair of the commission, has remarked the Clalarasi Hospital already operates six ambulances which fully meet the demand. Besides, the motion was disapproved by Government, which invoked the old age of the car and its inadequate technical condition. Several opposition MPs were angered by the rejection, especially since other similar motions proposed by their Communist colleagues had passed. MP Valeriu Cosarciuc of AMN reminded the Communist lawmakers that some 80 percent of people die at home in Moldova because there’s no one to take them to the hospital in critical moments. The retort of the Communist MP Grigore Petrenco, who said the initiative was merely a populist trick, sparked boos and altercations.