On the question of medicine and medical care after decades of communism which ended officially with the Revolution of December 1989, Brenciu explained that Romania now produces doctors on a “conveyor belt.” He admits that a good doctor is not made by textbook theory learned in school, but is born after years of residency training, specializing, and real life experience in the ER of a hospital.
The tragedy starts, he said, when the young resident is thrown into the midst of the hospital drama and realizes that he himself has become a social case, a victim of starvation on his meager income. While a nurse in the European Union, which Romania is a member of, earns about 6,500 lei (1,500 euros) per month, a doctor in Romania earns 1,500 lei per month, approximately four times less.