Suceava County Hospital under military control

The Suceava County Hospital, in northern Romania, has been militarized, as the place became a coronavirus hotspot

Leyla Cheamil, 03.04.2020, 13:50

The Suceava County Hospital, in northern Romania, has become one of Romanias sore spots, following a fast increase in the number of people infected with the new coronavirus, both patients and medical staff. Because of faulty management, the hospital, which benefited from dozens of millions of Euro worth of investment, was one the first in the country to get hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the unhappy toll shows that dozens of people have died there already. In fact, the interim manager, appointed only a week ago, resigned, so authorities decided to place the hospital under military control, in order to be able to resume its normal function as soon as possible.

Military doctor Daniel Ionut Derioiu, the new hospital manager, said:

“We will make an assessment of all people here, to know exactly their situation, because right now nobody knows how many people are ill, how many are in home isolation and so on. We understand that people are afraid, but we must know were we stand. In a first stage, we will have staff coming from Iasi, for four or five days we will have the head of the ATI clinic, who will reorganize the anesthesiology and intensive care departments in the county hospital and we will have a new epidemiologist”

It is possible for the medical staff to work safely and to regain trust, said Romanias president Klaus Iohannis after protective equipment and specific medicine were sent to several hospitals, including the one in Suceava. The president made an appeal to the physicians who had announced they wanted to quit to come back to work.

President Iohannis:

“There is enough medicine, protective equipment and procedures. I am addressing particularly the medical staff at the Suceava County Hospital. Please, come back to work, take over your patients and observe the procedures that are in place. We are counting on you.”

For the medical staff that come in contact with Covid-19 patients, the stress is high, Klaus Iohannis also said, and called on the Government to quickly identify European funds for them to get an extra monthly bonus of 500 Euro. Given the large number of deaths and infections, the city of Suceava and 8 surrounding communes were placed in quarantine early in the week, through a military decree. The biggest hotspot is in Suceava, and the pandemic is still spreading the Romanian Health Minister Nelu Tataru has warned, also stressing that, despite restrictions, he saw many people on the street. That is why, after placing the county hospital under military control, the authorities decided to resort again to the army to disinfect the city and the surroundings.