The Regional Hospital in Craiova will be the most modern and advanced hospital in Romania, will operate in the largest building constructed in the country after 1990 and will be put into use at the end of 2027, Minister of Health Alexandru Rogobete announced the on Wednesday, as he visited the construction site together with Cariova mayor Lia Olguta Vasilescu and president of the Dolj County Council Cosmin Vasile.

'This is the first time I have visited the site of the largest regional hospital of the three. This one is the biggest and an important mention is that it is the largest building constructed in Romania since the 1990s and what I have seen is impressive. Works began this summer, they are accelerating, they are progressing at a rapid pace and this is visible. At the Ministry of Health we also see the pace of payments, which is increasing rapidly, and this gives us a positive signal, namely that the works will most likely be completed at the end of 2027. From the discussions we have had with the builder, work is being carried out even at night and this is commendable,' Rogobete said.

He said that the hospital will have a diagnostic structure unlike any other medical unit in Romania: a 7 Tesla MRI, five angiographs and four CT scanners.

'This healthcare facility will certainly become a model, a symbol, I could say, for the healthcare system in Romania and for the whole of Central and Eastern Europe, because it will be the largest hospital built in recent years in the entire region. The medical equipment has also been put out to tender and contracted and we are talking about three MRI machines, including one 7 Tesla, which will be the only 7 Tesla MRI in Romania, installed in this hospital, five angiographs, four CT scanners. So we are talking about a high-performance diagnostic infrastructure, unlike anything we have in any other hospital. I believe that at the end of 2027, when the hospital is opened, the Regional Hospital in Craiova will be the most advanced hospital in Romania,' the minister of Health underlined.

Rogobete thanked the local authorities who are coordinating the project, stating that without their involvement things would not have progressed so quickly.

As for the medical staff who will work in this healthcare facility, they will be relocated from other medical units in Craiova, especially from Craiova County Clinical Hospital, which will be closed, and all activity will be transferred.

'From the discussions held with the builders, sometime in March-April we will reach the first floor, the most difficult stage in constructing any hospital. I can say this easily now because, as you well know, we have 22 new hospital sites in Romania. The most difficult stage is reaching the first floor because the basements, levels minus one and minus two, often include the technical area, technical rooms, functional equipment, medical gases, compressed air and of course the list goes on, heating and so on. After this point the works accelerate and the pace becomes visibly faster. At present work is being carried out on the ground floor,' Alexandru Rogobete concluded. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Maria Mitrica; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)