By Luiza Ilie
BUCHAREST, July 28 (Reuters) – Thousands of Romanian doctors, nurses and other health workers went on an indefinite strike for the first time in a decade on Tuesday, protesting job freezes and a public sector wage bill pending parliamentary approval that is key for the country to tap European Union funds.
The strike involves roughly two-thirds of healthcare workers at 400 hospitals, or most public health units across Romania. Emergency services would be maintained during the strike.
Doctors and nurses gathered outside most large hospitals across Romania, chanting “Justice for healthcare”, while dozens of ambulances lined up outside parliament sounding their sirens.
The main trigger for the strike was a public sector wage bill seeking to unify the pay system across state institutions and eliminate dozens of bonuses and allowances from 2027.
Unions have sharply criticised the wage bill, arguing that healthcare and education workers would see their overall income reduced.
It represents a key reform Romania must approve by end-August or risk losing nearly €800 million ($909 million) in EU funds. It is also one of several outstanding bills the country must pass so as not to lose a total of roughly €4.5 billion in EU grants.
Political parties are deadlocked over a new government after a broad pro-European coalition government collapsed three months ago. Parliament must reconvene from summer recess to approve the bills, but parties have yet to agree on the proposed reforms.
In addition to the wage bill, unions also criticized job freezes in a healthcare system they estimate has a shortage of 30,000 people.
Romania has one of the EU’s least developed healthcare infrastructures, following years of poor management and corruption scandals in the health system.
($1 = 0.8800 euros)
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie, editing by Andrei Khalip)
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