Lithuanian Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys has called on Robertas Petraitis to step down as director of the National Public Health Centre (NVSC), the body in charge of managing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Personally, I see some big problems and today I told Petraitis that, in my opinion, the best option would be for him to resign from his position,” Dulkys told reporters after meeting with the director on Friday.
“I was asked to give [Petraitis] time to think it over. So we agreed that I would wait for the answer until Monday morning,” he added.
The NVSC traces coronavirus infections and provides information about the spread of the pandemic. It has come under criticism for failing to account for hundreds of Covid-19 deaths.
Read more: Lithuania reports 804 previously unannounced coronavirus deaths
“I have given it a lot of thought and I am stressing today that the organisation has seen all kinds of internal stories and situations throughout its existence and especially during the crisis, but I think we have reached a point where we just need to cut the Gordian knot,” Dulkys said.
“We don't have time. There's a crisis and we need well-functioning organisations,” he added.
If Petraitis refuses to resign, Dulkys will have “to look for another way” and take “more bureaucratic action”, he said.
The call on the director to step down comes after it emerged that hundreds of coronavirus-related deaths had not been included into the official statistics.
The minister met with Petraitis last Tuesday to discuss the situation, but said that he was not convinced by the director's explanations and asked him to submit them in writing.
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has called on the NVSC leadership to take responsibility.
Petraitis told a press conference on Sunday that there were 1,171 unaccounted deaths, but said it was due to hospitals' failure to report them to the centre in time.
Read more: Health authorities admit inconsistencies in daily figures
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