The new Cardiovascular Surgical Center at the Targu Mures Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and Transplant (IUBCvT) could open between late October and mid-November, with medical equipment already delivered and undergoing reception and safety testing, the institute's head of adult and pediatric cardiovascular surgery, Prof. Horatiu Suciu, said on Friday.

He stressed that the administrative handover on 31 August did not mean surgeries could begin immediately: 'Some people somehow confused the reception-inauguration with the idea that we start operating the next day. You'd have to be a child to imagine that. A hospital doesn't move overnight like a piece of furniture. When you move into a new house, it takes time - and here we're talking about people's lives.'

'I believe that by the end of October or mid-November we will have all equipment ready and everything a hospital needs,' Suciu said, pointing out that the transition to the new building requires several months of testing: 'All circuits are functional, all equipment - from climate control to medical gases - is in place. We are now running the tests that prove everything is safe for patients.'

The €100-million project, financed through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), is considered a strategic national investment.

'This new Heart Institute is a national-interest project. It serves patients from across the country, not just our county. Cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of mortality among Romanians. One thing this project did right is that investment finally followed competence and medical performance,' the head of the adult and pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery Department said.

He also defended the project's cost: 'The amount is absolutely reasonable - I'd even say modest - considering how hundreds of millions disappear in healthcare on projects we see or don't see.'

Suciu described the construction timeline as a race against the clock, marked by bureaucratic and logistical hurdles: 'This project died five or six times and we resuscitated it just as many times - mostly with electric shocks,' he said, adding that the new facility meets top international standards.

For now, surgeries continue in the institute's old building, where operating rooms have been fully renovated. Once the move is complete, the center's capacity will increase significantly: 'The new hospital will cover all cardiovascular pathologies, from newborns to elderly. It has four modern operating rooms, including a hybrid theatre, equipped with state-of-the-art angiographs and extracorporeal circulation pumps. The investment will boost surgical volume by over 50%, turning a small-county unit into one of the most relevant reference centers in Eastern and Central Europe.'

Romania currently performs around 5,000 cardiovascular surgeries a year, out of an estimated need of 15,000, Suciu also noted. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Dorina Matis; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)