Romania's president requires rapid measures to ensure hospital hygiene

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis Monday required the authorities to quickly find the means to protect hospital patients countrywide.

The "deep issues" of the health care system cannot be solved by a resignation, said Iohannis, referring to the resignation of Health Minister Patriciu Achimas-Cadariu earlier on Monday, following the problems with the sub-standard disinfectants used in hospitals.

"We are in a moment of major crisis for the health care system with serious implications upon the Romanians' lives," he said, stressing that "corruption and prosperity are mutually exclusive, and prosperity without health doesn't exist."

According to the head of state, the serious problems in the health system call for sustainable solutions with concrete effects, and a long-term plan.

"We have the obligation to identify fast the means to protect the people who seek treatment in Romania's hospitals."

"I am in a permanent communication with the prime minister on this topic," the president said.

Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has agreed with President Klaus Iohannis to become acting health minister, after Patriciu Achimas-Cadariu's resignation, "in order to directly coordinate and ensure the continuity of necessary measures in the healthcare sector."

A disinfectant scandal shook the entire Romanian society, after a media investigation which revealed in early May that hundreds of hospitals in the country have been purchasing overpriced highly diluted disinfectants from a local firm for years, putting the patients' safety at risk.