The Annual Ambulance Society Dinner Gala was celebrated on Sunday, July 28thin Bucharest with over 6oo guest in attendance, most of them doctors and paramedics, as well as academics, businesspeople and politicians. The Ambulance Society (Societatea de Salvare – Bucuresti) was founded in 1906 by Prof. Dr. Nicolae Minovici and offered the very first ever ambulance service in Central Eastern Europe. Drawn by horses, specialized carriages helped bring the critically wounded and the very ill to the few ER rooms in Bucharest, also set up by Dr. Minovici. Later on, carriages and paramedics on bicycles were replaced by motorcars that catered to the poor, as well as to the wealthy.
Today, Salvarea Bucuresti (the Ambulance Service Bucharest) is led by Dr. Alice Grasu, an expert leader in emergency medicine and trauma centers. She is assisted by Dr. Cristian Grasu, her husband, who also leads the Ambulance Society since 1999. Mr. Minovici, who attend the event as a special guest, is the grandson of Dr. Nicolae Minovici. Among the guests of honor was Dr. Raed Arafat, State Secretary for the Ministry of Health and the head of SMURD, the special unit for rapid medical response nationwide, that he created. Dr. Arafat is also a board member of the Minovici Foundation.