Romanian prosecutors carried out raids at hospitals and at the homes of medical staff on Wednesday in a case involving false diagnoses and fictitious hospitalizations linked to obtaining disability certificates. Nine home search warrants were executed by investigators in Iași county, including at the Ghelerter Mental Health Centre within the Socola Psychiatry Institute in Iași and at the Pașcani Municipal Emergency Hospital.
🏥 Searches at hospitals and doctors’ homes
According to the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Iași Court, the nine home search warrants executed on 26 August targeted the „Dr. Ghelerter” Mental Health Centre, Section No. 1 of the Socola Psychiatry Institute, the Psychiatry Section of the Pașcani Municipal Emergency Hospital, as well as the homes of several medical staff members. The actions were carried out in a case opened for false diagnoses and fictitious hospitalizations related to the grading of disability.
📄 False diagnoses and fictitious hospitalizations
Doctors and nurses from the institutions involved allegedly drafted documents containing false statements about medical diagnoses, patient care and fictitious hospitalizations. „The favoured persons presented files with false statements to the commissions responsible for issuing disability certificates and subsequently fraudulently obtained allowances and fiscal facilities”, prosecutors said. The investigation targets offences of fraud, intellectual forgery and use of forgery. In Romania, a disability certificate entitles its holder to monthly state allowances and fiscal facilities, which is why documents of this kind are often used in fraud schemes.
🦷 Separate case: dentist from Botoșani detained
In a separate case, a 73-year-old dentist from Botoșani was detained by police after allegedly reporting more than 1,000 fictitious medical services between January 2020 and June 2024, unlawfully collecting 112,000 lei from the state budget — money earmarked for medical services provided to schoolchildren. According to the spokesperson of the Botoșani County Police Inspectorate, Delia Nenișcu, the detention followed three home search warrants executed at the dentist’s home and professional office by officers of the Economic Crime Investigation Service. During the searches, electronic devices and documents of interest to the case were seized. The three searches had been carried out a day earlier, on Tuesday, at the dentist’s home and professional office. The woman, aged 73, is suspected of the offence of illegally obtaining funds, in continued form.
🔍 What’s next
- Prosecutors continue the investigation and gather evidence from the searched locations.
- The electronic devices and documents seized during the raids will be analysed, and further hearings are expected.
- Depending on the evidence, additional procedural measures may be taken against the suspects involved.
The two cases, although separate, are being followed closely by the authorities, which have stepped up checks on the way disability certificates and state-funded medical services are granted and declared. The sums involved show the scale of the alleged fraud: in Iași, the false files were used to obtain allowances and fiscal facilities, while in Botoșani more than 112,000 lei were collected from the state budget on the basis of fictitious medical services.
Source: Profit.ro / Agerpres
