Nemerenco on Protesting Doctors from Tom Ciorba Hospital: Vicarious Embarrassment

The head of the Health Ministry, Ala Nemerenco, commented on yesterday’s protest outside the government by medics from the Tom Ciorba Hospital. According to Nemerenco, she experienced “vicarious embarrassment” over the march. “Daniel Voda recently wrote something about secondhand embarrassment. Perhaps I will also feel shame for the march against the so-called fictitious privatization of the Tom Ciorba Infectious Diseases Hospital land. But I am certainly ashamed of the conditions under which the medical staff of this hospital work and which they offer to patients. Patients who pay and support this system in all hospitals, many conditions of which do not stand up to any criticism,” the head of the Health Ministry wrote on social networks. To her post Nemerenco attached several photos, which, according to her, describe, the conditions in the medical center. “The first picture shows the already renovated sanitary unit of this hospital (please look carefully at the pot and what is written on it). That’s all you need to know about modern medicine. I am not posting other pictures; they may shock you. The path to modernization and change is difficult, but not impossible,” the minister added. Yesterday, doctors from the Tom Ciorba Hospital marched to the government to protest against the reorganization of the facility. Earlier, the staff of the Tom Ciorba Hospital and the Dermatology Hospital filed petitions asking not to merge the medical facilities. The Health Ministry said that the issue is only about joint management and that no hospital will be closed.