Health Minister Alexandru Rafila says the week-long visit to Cuba was not a trip but “an opportunity to find solutions for patients”, saying he visited two hospitals to see how certain drugs are used for diseases Romania has no response to , for example, “diabetic foot”.

Asked on Sunday night on Antena 3 if he had been reprimanded for anything related to his visit to Cuba, Alexandru Rafila replied that he had nothing to reprimand him as “it was not something done by his own hand” as he was about to sign “bilateral agreement in the field of health care”, after the Romanian government signed a memorandum with that country in January.

He claimed he had “taken the opportunity of an international congress” attended by 30 health ministers, including two from the EU, in addition to himself, to visit two hospitals to see how certain diseases were treated, for which there is no other solution in Romania, such as diabetes. foot.

• “They have a strong pharmaceutical industry, even if it seems strange to some or they deny it, I was very interested during this visit and I visited not only the manufacturing company, I visited the regulatory body, the drug agency in Cuba.
• I visited two hospitals to see how certain medicines are used, and some of them, which are registered in many countries, one of them even from the European Union, treat diseases that we did not respond to.
• And I will give you an example, the diabetic foot, a terrible disease that leads to about 10,000 amputations every year in Romania, because there is no treatment. There is a biological, injectable product that is introduced, which has very serious clinical studies, is introduced in many countries of the world, and I believe that the opportunity to find a solution for patients in Romania is not an excursion, but a responsibility,” he said, supported by Rafila , quoted by News.ro.

Alexander Rafila accused that the attacks regarding his visit to Cuba came from the USSR:

• “The attacks were carried out from the territory of the Ukrainian SSR, and I find the language, triviality, aggression and lack of common sense accompanying these messages unacceptable.
• I do not think that someone who represents the Romanian state, ignoring my person, can be unacceptably qualified in this way. I believe that civilization, dialogue – it does not necessarily have to be constructive, it can be polemical, but I believe that the limit of common sense and preservation of the truth in the zone of normality is necessary.”

The Minister of Health spent a week (from October 15 to 22) on an official visit to Cuba, where he took part in the 4th International Conference “Cuba-Health 2022” on the topic “General health as an integral part of Health “I until 2030″. The agenda in the scenario after COVID-19”. Together with him, the health ministers of Mozambique, Venezuela, Jamaica, Belize, Egypt, Trinidad-Tobago and Zimbabwe were present.