Raed Arafat (Arabic: رائد عرفات; Romanian pronunciation: [raˈed araˈfat], first name also spelled Rayed; born May 24, 1964) is a Syrian-born Romanian intensive care physician of Palestinian origin, specialised in anesthesiology.
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 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.[clarification needed]
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.
In 2014 he accepted the position of 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.[1]
- ^ "O alegere unanimă". DW.COM. Retrieved 31 October 2015.