Recovery centre for Romanian troops

A recovery centre for the military returning from theatres of operations will be built in Romania.

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Daniela Budu, 22.06.2018, 13:31

Romania will join the countries that have special healthcare centres for the recovery of troops returning from missions in international theatres of operations. Most NATO member countries already have such facilities, where the troops wounded in missions or having suffered psychological traumas benefit from special care and recovery programmes. The military returning unharmed from their missions may also benefit from the services of this centre, given that psychological assistance is essential in such cases.

The initiative to set up this centre, which will be the only one of this kind in south-east Europe, came from the Romanian Association of Military and Disabled Veterans. The Association was granted the right to use free of charge, for 49 years, the compound that used to host a military high school near Dealu Monastery, Targoviste, in the south of the country, where Romania’s former sovereign, Michael I, received his military training. The Association has 5 years, after receiving the right to use the land and buildings, to complete the investment.

The Defence Minister Mihai Fifor talked to the local authorities about the construction of this centre and also announced revamping works on another centre: “This project addresses the military returning from theatres of operations, because obviously such recovery centres are increasingly needed. At present we have nearly 700 troops deployed in Afghanistan. Benefitting from the services provided by the centre will not necessarily be only those troops that have suffered physical wounds. Also next year, we will start the revamping works on the Herculane centre, as we have already promised, because we intend to have more than one such unit in Romania.”

As for the works at the Targoviste centre, Senator Adrian Tutuianu said the investments here might start in 2019, provided that all the ownership transfer formalities are completed this year and the Defence Ministry issues all the required orders. Previously, Marius Apostol, an Afghanistan veteran and head of the Romanian Association of Military and Disabled Veterans, said he was hoping for the centre to be opened sooner, more specifically on November 11, Veterans Day.

Mihai Fifor also announced that in the same region near Targoviste, a national pilot centre will be built, specialising in the maintenance of military equipment. Romania contributes 695 troops to the NATO mission in Afghanistan. Another around 300 military are deployed in missions under UN, EU and OSCE command in other regions. So far 29 Romanian troops were killed and nearly 200 wounded in international military missions.