Romania lists 50 hospitals for stroke clot-busting as new Balotești and Sector 4 hospitals open

Stroke treatment network

Health Minister Alexandru Rogobete said in a Facebook post on Thursday, 29 October, that Romania has widened the hospital network in its national Priority Actions programme for acute stroke treatment (AP-AVC). According to his figures, 50 units can carry out intravenous fibrinolysis, 13 can perform intra-arterial fibrinolysis, and 14 can intervene through thrombectomy or thromboplasty. A further 14 units can perform percutaneous angioplasty with a stent, and 11 can embolise ruptured aneurysms. Rogobete said the aim is that patients can reach treatment quickly wherever they live.

IV fibrinolysis50

Intra-arterial fibrinolysis13

Thrombectomy or thromboplasty14

Angioplasty with stent14

Aneurysm embolisation11

IV fibrinolysis

50 units

Intra-arterial fibrinolysis

13 units

Thrombectomy or thromboplasty

14 units

Angioplasty with stent

14 units

Aneurysm embolisation

11 units

Data from the article text

New Balotești hospital

The new infrastructure of the Prof. Dr. Agrippa Ionescu Emergency Clinical Hospital in Balotești, Ilfov County, has been officially put into use. Libertatea reports an investment of 961.4 million lei, which it describes as the largest in Romania's medical system since 1989. European non-repayable funds under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) cover 95% of that value, and the Ministry of Health covers the remaining 5% from the national budget. Together with the rehabilitated older building, the complex covers 55,062 square metres. The first floor is reserved for the operating block, which has 14 theatres built to a single standard, and the article puts operations at over 500 a month. Libertatea adds that more than three quarters of patients are civilians, and that the hospital is public and open to any insured Romanian.

Burn centre plan for Bucharest

At the inauguration of the Centre for Diagnosis, Treatment and Research of Tuberculosis at the Marius Nasta Institute on Thursday, Rogobete said he hopes preparations for a centre for severe burn patients in Bucharest will begin in 2027. The announcement came a day before the 11th anniversary of the Colectiv nightclub fire on 30 October 2015. Addressing the prime minister, he said:

“Bucharest has a debt of the soul, a debt to the dignity of people who went through a great tragedy 11 years ago.”

Rogobete said Romania has three burn centres, in Timișoara and Târgu Mureș, both completed, and a children's centre in Bucharest, but the capital still needs a centre for adult burn patients. He recalled that in February he had announced the completion of the Timișoara centre, which was presented as the first of its kind built in Romania since the Revolution. He said the finance minister knows the subject very well, but gave no detailed timetable for the project.

Funding delays and the Marius Nasta buildings

Rogobete thanked the contractor of the tuberculosis centre, which he said carried out half of the hospital from its own funds because invoices were paid late. He described the contractor's approach in these words:

“He showed a great deal of patience”

Former prime minister Ilie Bolojan had announced in June that funding would be unblocked, allowing the firm to collect its arrears and resume works. The tuberculosis centre was built with Recovery and Resilience Plan money, according to the Ministry of Health, which says the investment improves diagnosis and treatment conditions for patients.

Pneumology hospital in Sector 4

A new pneumology hospital built from scratch in Sector 4 was also handed over on Thursday to the Marius Nasta Institute, in a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Luca Niculescu and Rogobete. The building, which was finished in August, has 115 beds, 19 of them intensive care. Construction began in April 2024 on the site of 130-year-old buildings that had been in an advanced state of decay and were fully demolished. Sector 4 mayor Daniel Băluță wrote on Facebook on Wednesday evening, 28 October, that more than 35 years had passed since a hospital dedicated to pneumology was last built from scratch in Romania. The article notes that Romania has the highest tuberculosis incidence in the European Union, four times the EU average, and a mortality rate of 5.1 deaths per 100,000 people, 6.5 times the EU average. The new building is the fourth medical facility Sector 4 has built in seven years.