In parallel with the extension of the state of alert and
\nthe launch of phase three of Romania’s mass vaccination campaign, which the
\nauthorities want to speed up, preparations are being made for a new infection
\nwave. For the time being, despite a growth in the number of new daily cases, there
\ncan be no talk of an accelerated surge. As a prevention, however, prime minister
\nFlorin C\u00ee\u0163u on Sunday asked during a meeting of the taskforce managing and coordinating
\nthe efforts to combat the pandemic for an increase in the number of intensive
\ncare beds from 1,408 at the moment to 1,600 and for new hospitals to be identified
\nable to take over Covid patients. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The prime minister also asked for the provision of the
\nnecessary medicine stocks and protective equipment for the staff in all
\nhospitals treating Covid patients. He also requested a clear plan in the event in
\nwhich some of the healthcare staff need to be relocated. C\u00ee\u021bu also emphasised
\nin a Facebook post: we mustn’t forget that the evolution of the pandemic depends
\non each and every one of us, not only on the authorities. Let’s get the
\nvaccine, respect the protection measures and save lives! He instructed the State
\nSanitary Inspectorate to report daily on the number of intensive care beds for
\nCovid patients around the country, to be compared with the reports sent in by
\neach hospital manager. At present, only 30 intensive care beds are apparently still
\nfree, none of which in Bucharest.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Starved of funding for years, the Romanian medical
\nsystem is one of the most under-performing in Europe and the Covid pandemic
\nonly shed more light on the problems it’s been facing: under-funding and
\nunder-staffing, insufficient beds and unsuited conditions. At the beginning of
\nthe year, a string of protests from healthcare workers raised the alarm over
\nwhat they see as the authorities’ indifference to the existing problems, from
\naddressing salary imbalances and unblocking posts to a national investment
\nstrategy. Emblematic of these problems are the two tragedies that shook the
\nRomanian medical system only several months apart, when a fire at the intensive
\ncare unit of the county emergency hospital in Piatra Neam\u021b (in the north-east)
\nlast November was followed at the end of January by another at Romania’s best-equipped
\ninfectious diseases hospital in Bucharest. In both cases, patients died, being
\nburnt alive. (CM)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanian pm Florin C\u00ee\u0163u calls for increase in ICU beds and identifying new hospitals to treat Covid patients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":88292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[35339,29225],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-88291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-coronavirus","tag-healthcare"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n