The head of the Department of Emergencies, Raed Arafat, says that a possible change “for no reason” to Romania’s emergency medical care system, which has functioned “effectively” during the pandemic, could cause it to collapse like dominoes. The statements were made in the context of the conflict with the Minister of Health, Alexander Rafila, who wants to transfer emergency medical care from Arafat’s authority to the Ministry of Health.

• “When we think about the sustainability of the health care system, we cannot do it in parts, but as a whole. We take the emergency care system, which is currently much debated. (…)
• The emergency medical care system in Romania developed according to a certain model with many interdependencies. SMURD depends on the UPU, it depends on the aviation of the Ministry of the Interior, on the fire service to function.
• This is an interconnected formation. It is also interconnected with emergency services, with which it works together in the field. This is a functional system that has proven its effectiveness during the pandemic.
• We are now coming and saying: we want change. IN ORDER. We are changing. But do we come up with something better than it was, something that would work better? After you have created a system, if you touch it somewhere and make a mistake by touching it there, the whole system will fall like dominoes,” said Raed Arafat, at the Black Sea and Balkan Security Forum, according to Agerpres.

He says that when rebuilding the system, what was worked out earlier will be lost:

• “Systems that have been proven to work during a disaster will need to be strengthened, and the lessons learned will need to be addressed and improved upon using the lessons learned.
• It should not be brought and reformed from scratch for absolutely no reason.”

Rafil-Arafat conflict

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.

The Minister of Health recently criticized firefighters treating patients, ironically saying that lawyers could coordinate emergency work at the Ministry of Health and “Raed Arafat will be the first man to reach Mars.”

• “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.

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.”