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.

[3][4] He completed a number of specialist courses abroad, training with the Paris Fire Brigade, the United States National Guard, and the Norwegian Air Ambulance.

[4] Following the 1989 Revolution, Arafat contemplated leaving for France, but his application was rejected,[2] so he concentrated instead on creating an emergency service in Târgu Mureș (which he originally financed with personal funds).

[2][3] In late 2005, his project to have SMURD function as an additional rescue service at a county level was passed into law, but raised opposition from the physician and Social Democratic politician Sorin Oprescu, who had drafted an alternative proposal.

[5] A reference to Arafat as "the Ayatollah 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.