PM Citu: I will request investigation, analysis, I want to know how fourth pandemic wave was prepared

Prime Minister Florin Citu announced on Tuesday that he will ask for an investigation, as quickly as possible, regarding the way the Ministry of Health prepared the fourth wave of the pandemic.

"I will request an investigation, an analysis, because I want to know how the fourth wave was prepared. We knew the fourth wave was coming, I said so all year long, after the third wave was over, that I do not want the number of beds to go down in the ICU units for COVID. I clearly said that I want our response capacity to be intact and to respond quickly. I would like to know how the Ministry of Health prepared for the fourth wave, to see if it took into consideration what I said and if what I said was not taken into consideration, the ones who didn't take into consideration will be held responsible," Citu said, during a visit in the county of Prahova.

The PM specified that he will talk with sanitary authorities and hospital managers regarding the situation of the ICUs, because there is also a need to deploy staff, not just to supplement the number of beds, highlighting that in the following period the number of ICU beds for COVID-19 patients will go up to 1,600.

"We have a number of ICU beds, we must transform from non-COVID into COVID, this is what we are doing now, but we must also deploy staff and I would like to see this plan put into motion as quickly as possible. I repeat, it is not normal and someone must be responsible for this, if the fourth wave was not prepared, even though I have spoken about this all summer. We will have all the solid data, because they change everyday. The last figure I have is 1,024 COVID ICU beds. You know very well that when I took over the Ministry of Health again, appointing Minister Cseke, I believe there were around 600 beds, although I always said that we must remain at 1,600 beds. The Minister understood my message, immediately added 400 beds and will add up to 1,600 beds as quickly as possible, but that is not the only challenge. The challenge is to have staff deployed in these COVID sections," the head of the Executive said.

Prime Minister Florin Citu took part on Tuesday in the signing ceremony for the financing contract of the Sinaia City Hospital. AGERPRES