The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete, said on Wednesday, about the decision to move some money to the emergency reception units, after the first days of his mandate, that he felt like a barrel full of powder and, if there had been a collective accident with multiple victims in those days, the hospitals would not have been prepared to provide emergency assistance. The minister pointed out that it is one of the biggest financial crises in the health system in the last 10 years.
“It is one of the biggest financial crises in the health system in the last 10 years. The most affected components of the health system are the emergency medicine area, the ambulance area, SMURD and, of course, the list can go on, the national priority action programs, anesthesia, intensive care, the wards for newborns, for severe burns. We are talking about the critical components, the emergency components, the components that treat the most serious and the most complex patients in the system health”, said Alexandru Rogobete on Europa FM.
He stated that there is a lot of debt in the health system.
“There are significant debts in the area of medical services. Two days after taking over the mandate, I managed, together with my colleagues from the Ministry of Health, to identify from other areas, from other projects (..) and moved 150 million from certain components to the pressure areas. And here I am talking about the emergency reception units and the ambulance services. Why did I do this? I tell you honestly, I felt like a barrel full of powder. God forbid, if in those days I would have had a collective accident, with multiple victims, the hospitals were not prepared to provide emergency services, complex rapid intervention services. And then I decided to move money from certain projects, without putting them at risk, where the payments were expected for December, for example, to move this money to the emergency reception units”, said the Minister of Health.
Rogobete: The incompetence of the former CNAS president generated the biggest crisis in the national programs. Bolojan, a man who has no vision
The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete, declared on Wednesday that the ineptitude, the administrative incompetence of the former president of the National Health Insurance House generated the biggest crisis within the national programs. He also answered the criticisms that came from the former prime minister Ilie Bolojan, showing that when he hears about him, his hair stands on end. “I realized that I am sitting at the table with a man who has no vision and who does not understand the health system”, said Alexandru Rogobete about Bolojan.
“Last year, in December 2025, it was the first year in the last 10 years when the National Health Insurance House closed the year without any debt to pharmacies and suppliers from the National Health programs. (..) From March, these debts started to be realized. Unfortunately, yes”, said the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete, on Europa FM.
He explained that the budget of the National Health Insurance House was approved from the beginning.
“There was, indeed, a financial deficit at the end of the year for certain programs and we were certainly relying on the budget rectification that had to be done in September, under optimal conditions. I say with all responsibility, we are talking about the ineptitude, about the administrative incompetence of the former president of the National Health Insurance House, which generated the biggest crisis within the national programs”, said Alexandru Rogobete.
The minister also stated that “there have always been punctual blockages, supply discontinuities, financial crises in small areas, but we haven’t had a general crisis at the national level in the large programs of oncology, cardiovascular diseases, pediatrics for a very, very long time”.
“At CNAS, I have some clear objectives. First of all, I want to carry out a financial audit, not to look for culprits, because that is not my goal, to identify the administrative and fiscal-budgetary errors of the last period and to be able to correct them, to be able to ensure a smooth continuation of the programs, so that patients can have access to medicines. It is not normal for patients to run between hospitals to find their medicines”, Rogobete emphasized.
About Ilie Bolojan’s accusations that he deliberately left the emergency services without money, Alexandru Rogobete said: “When Mr. Bolojan hears about me, his hair stands on end. Because he doesn’t have any.”
“It’s a pleasure to discuss contradictory, because I have figures that contradict him and that creates some pleasure for me. I have had several conflicts, not just one, from the moment I realized that the Romanian Prime Minister is asking the Minister of Health to reduce personnel expenses by 10%, given that the health system pays doctors’ guards at the value of 2018, or, if they do not reduce salaries by 10%, to fire me 10% to make an economy in the budget. That was my discussion with the prime minister, in his office. I don’t think that I am sitting at the table with a man who does not have a vision and who does not understand the health system”, said Alexandru Rogobete.
“There’s a big difference between making real reforms and pretending to make reforms and claiming that what you want to do is a reform. He didn’t make any reforms. Anyone from this country, if we put him at the head of the Government, could cut,” the minister also commented.
