The Mikó Imre Legal Protection Service became aware of a shocking incident involving a Hungarian family in Cluj-Napoca. On February 2, 2025, the member of a Hungarian family dialled the emergency number 112 after her mother’s friend became ill. The 68-year-old man showed symptoms of a stroke, so an ambulance was called.
According to the person who initiated the emergency call (Sz.Cs.), the doctor instructed her in a rather irritated tone to stop using Hungarian when she was trying to calm the elderly man on his mother tongue. Later, the doctor also demanded Romanian-language communication when the daughter explained the situation to her hard-of-hearing mother in her native language.
Sz.Cs. emphasized that the doctor intervened inappropriately and offensively in a private conversation in a private setting.
The affected party believes that their vulnerable situation was exploited since a public employee forbade the use of their native language. Sz.Cs. filed a complaint with the Cluj County Ambulance Service, stressing that the doctor’s behavior was unacceptable both humanly, socioculturally, and legally. She requested measures to be taken to prevent such incidents in the future.
Csoma Botond, the RMDSZ parliamentary representative for Cluj County, condemned the incident, describing it as severe discrimination and inhumane behaviour. He emphasized that the doctor, as an employee of a public health institution, violated the rights of the patient’s relative. RMDSZ will turn to the Ministry of Health and the Cluj County Health Directorate for an official explanation and will raise the issue in parliament.
The Mikó Imre Legal Protection Service strongly condemns the incident and will file a complaint with the National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD) since the events qualify as language discrimination. Our service considers it particularly important that every national minority to have the right to freely use their native language, especially in private conversations. This case in Cluj-Napoca once again highlights that language discrimination remains a real issue in Romania.
Benkő Erika, the head of the Mikó Imre Legal Protection Service, expressed her concerns that such incidents still occur. “The doctor’s behaviour is, on one hand, incomprehensible, and on the other, it’s rather surprising that a doctor in Romania isn’t aware that there are linguistic minorities living here, who use their languages in conversations. Sadly, the doctor’s behaviour in this situation can only be interpreted as him being disturbed by the Hungarian language, and that is unacceptable.”
(Photo: Rohonyi D. Iván)