Craiova Medical Examiners Protest Staff Cuts, Warn of Operational Paralysis

Medical examiners in Craiova staged a spontaneous protest Thursday, June 11, 2026, against a government order to reduce personnel costs by 10%. This comes after the institute's budget was already cut by 10% this year. Employees warn that these layoffs will cripple the institute's operations within one to two months.

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After all, there was discrimination – we have much more work than regional services, our salaries are lower than regional services, because they are attached to hospitals, we are directly attached to the ministry, now the discrimination has been made that only the institutes of legal medicine must reduce their salaries by 10%. It is not known by what method. Through layoffs, through salary reduction, through unpaid leave, we don't know what the methods will be for the 10% salary envelope reduction. But, after our incomes were already diminished compared to the workload relative to our colleagues at the regional services, now we are the only ones who have to make this sacrifice and it is not normal, it is not constitutional.

The Craiova Institute of Legal Medicine has 34 employees. The proposed cuts would necessitate sending home two doctors or five to seven other staff members, exacerbating existing understaffing issues. "We have much more work than regional services, our salaries are lower, and now we are the only ones who have to make this sacrifice," said Gabriel Guja, a medical examiner. He argued that the situation is "not normal, not constitutional."

Staff emphasized the immense workload, noting that all contested medico-legal acts from surrounding counties like Gorj, Severin, and Olt are processed in Craiova. Doctors frequently work two to three hours of overtime daily to ensure timely delivery of reports to investigative bodies and to avoid significant fines for delays. "Fines are quite high. We just received a notice for a 5,000 lei fine because a report is not ready. We simply cannot finish the work within normal hours," one examiner stated.

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Procedurally speaking, we, IML Craiova, are burdened with the acts from Gorj, Severin, Olt, plus the acts from our area, Dolj. Out of five working days in a week, I believe at least three to four days we work overtime for 2-3 hours. We do the work conscientiously, so that the medico-legal acts reach our beneficiaries, namely the criminal investigation bodies, so as not to delay the legal process.

The planned 10% reduction in personnel costs, following the existing 10% budget cut, means the institute faces a minimum 20% decrease in resources. Employees expressed concern about future repercussions, particularly regarding a new salary law, but could not provide further details on its impact.

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The fines are quite high. We just received a notice for a 5,000 lei fine because it is not ready. We cannot, we simply cannot work within the normal working hours. And now it comes with a 10% reduction. What is happening is not normal.