Romanian President Klaus Iohannis thanked Viktor Orbán on Friday for Hungary helping Romania in the difficult situation caused by the coronavirus epidemic.
According to a statement from the Romanian presidential office, Iohannis called the Hungarian prime minister by phone to thank the Hungarian help offered to the Romanian patients, which he called a real gesture of European solidarity. The Romanian president expressed special appreciation for the fact that the Hungarian authorities solved the rapid transfer and treatment of coronavirus patients in a critical state in the hospitals of Szeged and Debrecen.
The Romanian Secretary of State for Disaster Prevention said on Friday that many European countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) are helping Romania after Bucharest activated the European Union's civil protection mechanism due to the critical epidemic situation that exceeded the capacities of the health care system.
Hungary sent medicines and ventilators to Romania, and then - following the request of Kelemen Hunor, Deputy Prime Minister of the Bucharest government, and Acting Minister of Health Attila Cseke - Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Wednesday that Hungary will accept fifty seriously ill patients from Romania for treatment.
On Thursday, the transportation of seriously ill coronavirus patients to Hungarian clinics began, for whom care could no longer be provided in the overcrowded intensive care units of Romanian hospitals. Patients in critical condition were taken by ambulances from Timișoara and Nagyvárad to the hospitals in Szeged and Debrecen. The Romanian army is also participating in the humanitarian action: patients who are trying to be saved in Hungarian hospitals are being transported from Bucharest to the border area by military aircraft.
The Bucharest Ministry of Health reported the transport of eight patients to Hungary on Thursday and 12 on Friday.
In Romania, the number of infected people increased by almost 16,000 on Friday, and the death of 363 coronavirus patients was reported.
Source: MTI
