Prime Minister Nicolae Chuke intervened in the dispute between Health Minister Alexandra Rafila and the head of the Department of Emergencies, Raed Arafat, saying on Thursday night that SMURD, coordinated by the DSU, was “working very well” and that he saw no reason to to be transferred to another institution. Also on Thursday night, the DSU appealed to Rafila to “recognise the important position that firefighters have earned through their efforts and sacrifices within the framework of an integrated system and their role in saving lives.” It came after the health minister criticized firefighters for treating patients, quipping that lawyers could coordinate emergency work at the Ministry of Health and “Raed Arafat will be the first man to reach Mars”.

Asked Thursday evening about the differences between Health Minister Alexandra Rafila and the head of the Department of Emergencies, Raed Arafat, Prime Minister Nicolae Chuke declined to comment. When asked if he thought SMURD should be transferred from the Department of Emergency Situations to the Ministry of Health, as Alexandru Rafila wants, Chuke said that what is working should not be transferred anywhere.

• “The SMURD service is working and we have all seen the effectiveness of the intervention of these teams.
• So when something works, I don’t think we should step in and transfer it or make it so that it’s not as effective anymore.
• I don’t know what Minister Rafila said because I didn’t get that information, but I can say with certainty that the SMURD service is working very well and I thank them for the way they are operating,” Chuke stated.

He was also asked about the Health Minister’s recent attacks on DSU and Raed Arafat.

Rafila on Arafat: “He will probably be the first man to set foot on Mars”

Criticizing the fact that firefighters treat patients, referring to the activities of SMURD, Alexandrou Rafila ironically said that lawyers can coordinate emergency activities in the Ministry of Health, where there is an emergency department.

As for Raed Arafat, Rafila said he would be the first man to reach Mars, prompting laughter at a meeting with ambulance managers and union leaders where the statement, obtained by Digi24, was made.

• “It is difficult to recruit doctors in this field, very difficult to recruit. But it is important to find people who do not necessarily have to be doctors.
• If I understand the legislation and the specifics of emergency medicine, I think it is important, because if patients are served by firefighters, I think that lawyers can also manage the activity, the organization of emergency medicine together with us, because there are several people who know, what is it about
• He (and not Raed Arafat) is suited to the position where he integrates NATO, emergency aid, and disasters.
• Soon there will be NASA and probably the first person to set foot on Mars…,” said Rafila.

DSU: We are deeply disappointed by the approach that the Ministry of Health insists on covering the partner

The Department of Emergency Situations responded Thursday evening with a press release, saying that “it is unfortunate that we once again witness the irony and comments directed at the personnel of certain components of the combined system, with clear responsibilities to provide qualified first aid “. and emergency medical care”.

The institution under the leadership of Raed Arafat also says that the ironic, unethical attitude repeatedly expressed towards the firefighters “creates a gap between different categories of personnel who until now have professionally carried out their rescue mission and who cooperated and continue to carry out the rescue mission together, in an integrated way, cooperating with each other on the ground and within integrated dispatches.”

We reproduce the reaction of the DSU in full after the new criticism of Alexander Rafila:

• “It is unfortunate that we are once again observing irony and statements directed at the personnel of individual components of the unified system, with clear obligations to provide qualified first and emergency medical aid.
• One of the most important components of this system are the firefighters, who either participate in the provision of emergency medical care as part of mobile intensive care teams alongside doctors and nurses in the reception departments, or provide qualified first aid as part of the SMURD First Aid Team, or as staff to intervene in evacuation teams or other teams that are designed to save the lives of those in danger, regardless of the nature of the emergency affecting the communities.
• The Office of Emergency Situations considers all participants of the missions coordinated by it to be indispensable, at the pre-hospital stage or at the level of emergency departments, regardless of the level of competence of each person. As our institution has repeatedly stated, there are different levels of competence in the emergency care system, and paramedics and firefighters have the necessary skills to provide qualified first aid in order to apply rescue maneuvers, prevent complications in life-threatening emergencies, and, accordingly, transport the patient to the nearest department emergency care, if there is no doctor on site and he cannot be sent to the place of intervention in time to provide advanced medical care if necessary.
• The role of paramedics is not to treat patients, as treatment is administered by or at the direction of a physician, but to perform life-saving maneuvers and monitor the patient until the patient is admitted by a physician. emergency medical personnel.
• It should be emphasized that even paramedics do not have the task or competence to treat patients, this responsibility rests with doctors. Medical assistants may administer certain treatments as directed by a physician or in certain medical situations, following pre-established protocols for medical cases.
• The ironic, unethical attitude that has repeatedly been expressed towards firefighters creates a gap between the different categories of personnel, who until now professionally performed their rescue mission and who cooperated and continue to carry out their rescue mission together, comprehensively, cooperating with each other in the fields and within integrated mailing list We cannot ignore the millions of interventions in the field of qualified first aid provided by our fellow firefighters and paramedics and the thousands of lives saved in recent years, especially since this service has become national, present in every county through first aid crews helping in urban and rural areas, to which are added mobile intensive care teams in most districts and the municipality of Bucharest.
• Given the numerous requests to express an official position on the comments that appeared in the public space, the Department of Emergency Situations limits itself to an appeal to the Minister of Health with a request to recognize the important position that firefighters have earned by their efforts and sacrifices in the structure of the integrated system, their role in saving lives, accordingly, their need for proper performance of qualified medical activity in this system.
• We do not ask the minister to apologize to his fellow firefighters or to the employees of the SMURD for all the erroneous statements that have been made against this category of personnel in the recent period, but we want that in the future statements in the public space no longer include differences between personnel who serving SMURD crews, and those serving EMS crews, for the simple fact that all those involved in saving lives play an important role in keeping citizens safe when their lives may be in danger. danger.
• We state that we are deeply disappointed by the approach that the Ministry of Health insists on covering the partner, namely the Department of Emergency Situations, especially when our common goal should be the development and improvement of the system, in accordance with the regulations in force, and not its disintegration.
• Given the fact that information about the stakes related to financial aspects has been disseminated in the media, from the point of view of the Department of Emergency Situations, its position on the repeated tactics of trying to disintegrate this system is not related to these aspects, for the simple reason , that the money provided to both the state ambulance service and the emergency department, according to SMURD, comes from the state budget through two channels: the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the majority of the sums represent staff salaries.
• In conclusion, we reiterate the fact that attempts to disintegrate the emergency system only weaken the emergency system in Romania and reduce its quality, in no way improve it. The latest challenges that we faced in Romania and that Europe faced showed that our country has a functional, operational and high-quality emergency system that has been able to face these challenges both at home and abroad thanks to the international missions carried out.”

Emergency medical services, including SMURD, ambulance, hospital emergency departments and emergency departments, are now coordinated by the Department of Emergency Management, and Rafila wants to remove emergency medical services from Raed Arafat and transfer them to the Ministry of Health, which currently funds them , but does not have their coordination.

The two attacked each other countless times. In August, at a press conference at the ministry, Rafila said that “for the past eight years, unfortunately, professional training in the field of emergency medicine has been elsewhere.”

Alexandru Rafila also said that “the decision on the professional training of people who work in the emergency care system – whether we discuss the ambulance or whether we discuss the emergency department – should be up to the Ministry of Health.

Read also:

• The big stake in the Rafila-Arafat scandal