Raed Arafat ( ar, رائد عرفات; , first name also spelled Rayed; born May 24, 1964) is a Syrian-born

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

intensive care Intensive care medicine, also called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes pro ...

physician of

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

origin, specialised in

anesthesiology Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...

. He founded the Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and Extrication (SMURD) with the help from the Romanian Fire Fighting Brigade represented by Lt.-Col Mircea Pintilie. He was also the coordinator of Mureș County Emergency Services until 23 August 2007, when he was invited to take the position of Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Health to deal with the development of emergency medical care in Romania. He was also, for a short period, the Minister of Health (7 November-21 December 2012), serving many years as Under-Secretary of State for Health in the Romanian Government. He accepted the position of Minister of Health just as a temporary position after which he was nominated as State Secretary at the Ministry of Health until 28 January 2014 when he accepted to move as Secretary of State at the Ministry of Internal Affairs to head the newly created Department for Emergency Situations under which all emergency services are coordinated including fire and rescue, civil protection, prehospital medical emergency response, air rescue and emergency departments. He is still serving at the Ministry of Internal Affairs in this position.

Early life

Arafat was born in Damascus to a

couple from Nablus. He worked as a volunteer in

emergency medicine Emergency medicine is the medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (often called “ER doctors” in the United States) continuously learn to care for un ...

from the age of 14.2006 interview with Raed Arafat
, hosted by Rompres Andi Laslau
"Arabii din România, radiografie completă"
, at News4Romania.ro In 1981 he emigrated to

and initially settled in

Pitești Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in the historical re ...

, where he took

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communities in ...

classes.

Education

Arafat enrolled at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Status , subdivision_name2 = County seat , settlement_type = City , ...

. He later moved to the Târgu Mureș University of Medicine, where he underwent specialization in anesthesiology."Raed Arafat" at ''Gala Societăţii Civile''
/ref> He completed a number of specialist courses abroad, training with the Paris Fire Brigade, the

United States National Guard The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force when activated for federal missions.Norwegian Air Ambulance.

Career

Following the

1989 Revolution The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

, Arafat contemplated leaving for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, but his application was rejected, so he concentrated instead on creating an emergency service in

Târgu Mureș Târgu Mureș (, ; hu, Marosvásárhely ) is the seat of Mureș County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. It is the 16th largest Romanian city, with 134,290 inhabitants as of the 2011 census. It lies on the Mureș River, th ...

(which he originally financed with personal funds). In 1991, he created SMURD, a mobile emergency service which began collaborating with the Romanian firefighting service and the

Fire service A fire department (American English) or fire brigade ( Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, working for it as a volunteer until 1998, when he gained Romanian citizenship.

Politics

In late 2005, his project to have SMURD function as an additional rescue service at a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

level was passed into law, but raised opposition from the physician and

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

politician

Sorin Oprescu Sorin Mircea Oprescu (; born 7 November 1951) is a Romanian independent politician and medical doctor who previously served as Mayor of Bucharest between 2008 and 2015. Political activity Oprescu first ran for Mayor of Bucharest in 1998 backed ...

, who had drafted an alternative proposal. Geta Roman
"Ayatollah-ul Arafat l-a învins de urgenţă pe feudalul Oprescu"
in ''

Cotidianul The logo used between 2003 and 2007 ''Cotidianul'' (meaning ''The Daily'' in English) is a Romanian language newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania. History and profile Founded by Ion Raţiu, ''Cotidianul'' was first published on 10 May 1 ...

'', October 25, 2005 A reference to Arafat as "the

Ayatollah Ayatollah ( ; fa, آیت‌الله, āyatollāh) is an Title of honor, honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy in Iran and Iraq that came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Etymology The title is originally derived from ...

of Romanian emergency medicine" and the stress he placed on the latter's country of origin brought Oprescu to the attention of the National Council for Combating Discrimination. Irina Dimiu
"«Hobbyul meu: să salvez oameni»" (interview with Raed Arafat), p.2
in '' Avantaje'' A

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with either a minor or serious illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery. It includes initial in ...

instructor, he coordinated international lectures on the matter in several countries (including

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

). In 2003, he was made a Knight of the

National Order of Merit of Romania National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(a Grand Officer since 2005). Since August, 2009, he has held the position of Under-Secretary of State for Health. He resigned from this position on January 10, 2012, as he expressed criticism on the health system reform. After a series of protests in several cities, the government announced changes to the reform plan, and Dr Arafat returned to his post as Under-Secretary of State. In late 2012 he was Romanian Minister of Health, then came back to his charge as undersecretary in the same ministry.

References and bibliography

* A. Todea, F. Maria, M. Avram, ''Oameni de știință mureșeni – Dicționar biobibliografic'', CJ Mureș Biblioteca Județeană Mureș, tipografia Mediaprint SRL, 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Arafat, Raed People from Damascus Romanian people of Palestinian descent Romanian Muslims Romanian anesthesiologists Palestinian emigrants to Romania 1964 births Living people Romanian Ministers of Health Recipients of the Order of Honour (Moldova) Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy alumni