Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu decided to send the ministry’s control body to the Ophthalmology Hospital in Bucharest, after revelations about the hospital manager, Monica Pop, following the survey published on Wednesday by Tolo.ro, the blog of journalist Catalin Tolontan. According to the journalistic investigation, Monica Pop has hired out a hospital room to a firm that then hired her for four years, a period during which she also held the position of manager of the public hospital.
According to the investigation, Monica Pop, manager of the Ophthalmology Hospital in Bucharest since 1994 and the longest-serving manager of the hospital in the capital, hired out the room to a firm.
In 1996 Monica Pop signed an agreement by which the Ophthalmology Hospital hired out a space of 38 square meters on the ground floor of the hospital in Lahovary Square to the Monona Trading Group SRL. Monona sells food, and crystalline for the patients. The contract with Monona has been extended four times.
During 2007-2011, Monica Pop was both director of the Ophthalmology Hospital and employee of Monona, from which she received a small salary – RON 500 (approx. EUR 110) per month.
Monona is owned by physician Mihai Ghita, having Anisoara Daniela Munteanu, also physician at the Ophthalmology Hospital, as administrator.
Catalin Tolontan published an article showing that PSD Senator Florian Popa protected Monica Pop in the position of Head of the Ophthalmology Hospital in Bucharest.
Monica Pop allegedly has benefited from the MP’s support, who appointed himself to the Board of Directors at the hospital and head of the hospital’s Competition Commission.
Senator Florian Popa said, according to tolo.ro that “ANI accused me of conflict of interest and incompatibility. A file is with the Prosecutor’s Office and the other one is in court. Regarding the document by which I signed to appoint myself in the Hospital’s Board, I signed that day hundreds of appointments and it was a mistake that I signed mine too. There’s no political support for Mrs. Monica Pop.”
Monica Pop said: “It’s an aberration, a lie, a vengeance of a psychopathic nurse and an abject gesture of Mr. Tolontan. There’s nothing abnormal as director to sign a lease to a firm who then hired me,” digi24.ro informs.