Romanian Minister of Health Fired

Romanian minister of Health, Mr. Vlad Voiculescu, was fired on Wednesday, April 14, following a series of mismanagement acts from him and his team. His dismissal was vividly discussed within Romanian Governing coalition in the last month, but a decision was yet to come.

During his short mandate a series of events happened, among which some were publicly debated:

• the biggest COVID-19 hospital in Bucharest caught fire after an explosion, 3 dead on spot, many more afterwards
• a few days ago, at the same hospital an oxygen installation caused the ventilation system to stop, which killed 3 female patients
• a week ago he approved for the recovering patients in one of Bucharest’s hospitals to be evacuated despite their condition. Spontaneous protests of people gathered in front of the hospital asked for his resignation.
• he was filmed wearing no mask while in Parliament, inside the building
• he approved the publication of the military COVID-19 vaccination centers’ addresses, some being classified by law as state or military secret. By doing so he endangered the secrecy of the identity of some military personnel working within Romanian secret services
• he was caught by turned on mics ahead of a press conference telling his aids not to let anybody inside for fear he would be seen wearing no mask inside the building
• his secretary of state signed a new governmental order to change the rules of quarantine in Romania without informing the Prime Minister. The order would’ve got all the country in mandatory quarantine
• he was admonished repeatedly by his colleagues and the PM for the fact that he misses from the COVID-19 battle field and he only publishes his thoughts on Facebook
• he included in his activity report to the Prime Minister the likes and shares of his Facebook account, considering this is something worth praising with

His act as a minister of Health was seriously criticized by the Opposition, but also by his coalition colleagues. Also, the protesters in the streets asked for his resignation during the protests which took place in Bucharest.

The political formation who proposed him as a minister, USR-PLUS, is expected to make another proposal instead. The disappointment of the Romanian people with his performance as a minister is high, as he belongs to a reformist political party expected to move the things towards the right direction while in power.