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Torture in nursing homes/PNL's Ciuca: What happened in the nursing homes is inadmissible
What happened in the nursing homes where there is evidence that the patients were mistreated is "inadmissible," leader of the National Liberal Party, Nicolae Ciuca, said on Monday, while mentioning that he was not informed by the investigation in this file during the time when he was prime minister.
"What happened in the nursing home of horror is absolutely incredible and inadmissible, therefore we must be as intransigent as possible in our discussions on this topic at the level of the party leadership, (...) there can be no tolerance in this case and we ask all state institutions to take the most appropriate measures and as quickly as possible, so that all those who are involved are punished," he said in a press release at the PNL headquarters.
The Liberal leader added that he had no information about the investigation by DIICOT and the Police when he was PM.
"You know my work very well. Every time we had such information or notifications, we took measures accordingly. As such, I did not have such information and I am convinced that, regardless of which institution it was, regardless of which level of management it was, then and now, the measures must be the same," Ciuca pointed out.
Asked if there should also be a political responsibility, beyond the administrative ones, he answered: "I am convinced that there is an analysis at the level of the Government, at the level of the prime minister, which will be completed soon with the respective measures."
The former prime minister also claimed that he has "no information" if any of the PNL ministers is responsible for the situation in the nursing homes in Ilfov.
According to REPER MEP Dacian Ciolos, an independent audit is necessary in the case of the nursing homes in Romania, which would present the reality, and that the PSD (Social Democratic Party) should leave the country's leadership.
"Marcel Ciolacu must leave the country's leadership with the entire PSD, hand in hand with Firea and Budai, because he doesn't understand what a real Prime Minister of the Romanian Government does. You can't put the wolf in the fold! Which is exactly what the Social Democratic Prime Minister decided to do yesterday when, while being hypocritically concerned about the condition of the beaten and starving old people in Ilfov, asked Labour Minister Budai to control the centres with vulnerable people allover the the country and make a report to him. The Minister of Labour is the one of those who were notified by the Centre of Legal Resources as early as last year regarding the horrors in Ilfov and his solution was to ban the access of this organization to the centres with vulnerable people!," Ciolos wrote on Facebook.
According to the former PM, "Budai is the moral author for the perpetuation of the horrors in Ilfov, and Ciolacu and the PSD are now asking him to shed light on the social assistance system instead of removing him."
"It is incredible and an affront to the hundreds of non-governmental organizations and communities that help vulnerable people in Romania. I have seen them in the course of last year, I have seen their needs and vision, the care and humanity with which they do their duty. I have seen the immense resources of good practices that must be used to establish the aid system for children and the elderly if there was a dialogue with the state. But all Budai and Ciolacu know how to do is to remove these people from any area where they could help or control what the state does. This is how the gap between society and the state deepens, this is how people's trust in politicians drops to the bottom. After everything they did at Voluntari, after all the evidence that the politicians are involved and those from the PSD knew and covered up the horrors, you can't just have them control those who do things in good faith. An independent audit is needed to put on the table the reality as it is, not the one shaped by party interests," Dacian said.
În turn, MP Emanuel Ungureanu from the Save Romania Union (USR- opposition) said on Monday that the prime minister and the Health minister are ushering in "an imminent catastrophe", i.e. the switch of the "horror care facilities" to the "horror camps" in psychiatric hospitals and are also attempting to "divert public attention" from Labor Minister Marius Budai, who has responsibilities in the scandal of the abusive elderly nursing homes and should be sacked.
"I'd like to draw attention to an imminent catastrophe Mr. Ciolacu is planning through Mr. Rafila, i.e. switching the horror nursing homes to the horror camps in mental health hospitals. In 2019 I visited several psychiatric wards in Romania and showed images captured there. (...) It is absolutely absurd and illegal to place any kind of care facility under the supervision or coordination of a mental illness ward. Moreover, the Legal Resources Center has several ECHR lawsuits won on behalf of patients who were mistreated, humiliated, starved, or even killed in these 'camps' in Romania's mental illness wards," Ungureanu declared at the Parliament Palace.
According to him, "Marcel Ciolacu and Alexandru Rafila are trying to make a move to distract public attention from an important name with responsibilities in the scandal of the Voluntari horror care facilities - specifically Marius Budai". "Budai had received images from these centers from the Legal Resources Center, he knew about the disaster in these nursing homes and did nothing. He must answer immediately with his position for this catastrophe," Emanuel Ungureanu said.
The Police and Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) have taken note of their own accord since February regarding the situation in certain elderly homes for vulnerable people - children, the elderly, people with disabilities, official sources declared on Monday.
According to the quoted sources, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) will also check, in this case, if there were complaints filed with the Police by people who lived in the vicinity of the elderly homes and saw the condition of the people admitted there.
The investigation is "extensive" and "targets a network," the sources also indicated. According to the law, standards of care controls in the centers for the institutionalization of vulnerable persons falls to the National Agency for Payment and Social Inspection.
The sources also mentioned that checks were carried out at two residential centers in Ilfov intended for the elderly, the most recent being on January 26 and February 15. Then, fines were given for non-compliance with hygiene, and the results were sent to the Ministry of Health - the State Sanitary Inspection.