Romanian forensic doctors threaten national protest over staff cuts

The Romanian Network of Legal Medicine has announced that it will organise nationwide protests after former health minister Alexandru Rogobete failed to honour a promise to exempt forensic institutes from recent austerity measures (OUG no. 7/2026). The professional body accuses the Ministry of Health of under‑financing the sector, allowing staff reductions, and neglecting the need for modern equipment and updated tariffs.

The association warns that the cuts jeopardise essential services such as autopsies, toxicology analyses, and expert testimony in criminal cases. It says it is prepared to launch all legal forms of protest, including staged interruptions of non‑urgent activities, to pressure the government into restoring funding and staffing levels for forensic medicine.

The dispute centres on the former minister’s alleged breach of a public commitment that forensic institutions would be protected from the austerity‑driven personnel reductions, a promise the network says was never implemented.