The Tragedy of Giulesti Maternity Hospital

Four new born babies died and eight are reported to be in critical condition after an explosion swept through the Giulesti maternity hospital in north west Bucharest on Monday night, says the BBC. The cause has been given as an electrical fault in the air-con system, but there seems to be some vague discrepancies (by which I mean absence of fact) in reports between the papers of the west and those in Roumania. Roumanian media has since reported that the fire began in a cupboard caused by faulty wiring and that there were no smoke detectors on the ward. The western papers have not reported this. Why? Probably because it seems unthinkable that a hospital could possibly exist without smoke detectors. Certainly to me as an ex-nurse, it is simply unimaginable, particularly in a department for the intensive care of premature babies - oxygen tanks are flammable after all.

(Photo left: Agerpres) This intensive care unit was supposedly the pride and joy of Giulesti hospital. So, where were the smoke detectors? Why were none in situ in such a vital part of the hospital? And where were the inspectors who were supposed to check the air conditioning, fire extinguishers and...the afore-mentioned smoke detectors??? It is insane. While Elena Udrea is paying thousands for her stupid road signs and even more for her ridiculous Carpathian Garden promotion joke, the hospitals of the capital (and everywhere else thoughout the country) are degenerating at a rate of knotts and are more than simply a liability.

Thousands of doctors and nurses have left Roumania in recent years for better paid jobs in decent surroundings abroad. Hospitals are desperately understaffed and cannot even attempt to hire as the government tries to keep the budget deficit down, making cuts where cuts should not be made... whilst quite happily allowing futile, irresponsible spending in other sectors. Patients have to buy their own bandages, medicines and syringes and basic medical materials such as surgical thread is also lacking so surgery cannot be performed unless patients fork out for it themselves (see ABCNews). If you are a Roumanian reading this, you'll be thinking, "so, what's new - asa e." If you are a westerner reading this, you simply won't believe me. But I am not exaggerating. From personal experience of visiting friends in hospitals following accidents or surgery, I can tell you that I have arrived in wards with shopping trollies full of medicines, bandages, pillows and even clean sheets. Not to mention food.

My neighbour was hospitalised (not at Giulesti, I add) back in the winter of 2008 having fallen in the snow and breaking her ankle very nastily in several places. Unless she paid bacsis to the nursing staff, her bed wasn't changed and she wasn't even fed. I was outraged. However, looking into this problem with new eyes, I discovered the nurses salaries were pathetic, so insulting for the work they do, that they would never be able to survive without bacsis (a quick parenthesis because I'm not tarring all nurses with the same brush - I know at least three who are appalled by the conditions in which they work, very much moved by their patients' suffering and do not take bacsis for they believe it to be morally wrong). And the same goes for doctors, too, although some of them really do profit and are thoroughly inhumane in their demands... It is a vicious circle that seems to have no solution. While the government is squandering its spending and lining its pockets with IMF handouts, none of it seems to be reaching the areas where it's really needed - healthcare and education.

If this had happened in any other country, the whole of the medical staff on duty in ITU Monday night would have been fired by now, the director would be in jail and the minister of health, Attila Cseke, called to resign. But this is Roumania. The country of my heart. Beloved country. The decline is like a wheelchair at the top of a hill with no brakes and it is about to fall headlong...there seems nothing anyone can do about it because noone really seems to care enough within the goverment or outside it in the EU to be responsable. What did I hear the other day? Something on the lines of the position for the minister of health in Roumania changing every 7-8 weeks as noone wanted or could keep the job. I must check it, but this gives you some kind of idea re: the dire straits of this beautiful country that I love so much. The BBC reported only last week that the Roumanian health service was on the verge of collapse. So do something about it, for God's sake, Traian Basescu...or stand down.

Attila Cseke said the catastrophe at Giulesti was "one of the darkest tragedies in the history of the Roumanian health-care system." All the more so because it could have been avoided had people done their jobs from Cseke himself down to the ward staff and inspectors responsible for medical equipment, fire evacuation and airconditioning... A father visiting his wife on Monday night told the TV channel Antennae 3 that no medical staff were in ITU when the fire broke out. So where the hell were they? That IS why it is called an intensive care unit. The care should be intensive, ie. round the clock and consistent. Or does intensive care have a different meaning to the medical staff of this unit? Please read this article from ZF for other pearls of wisdom uttered by Cseke - paying special attention to the last paragraph. 

A comment at the bottom of a report on the tragedy just read and copied verbatum: "My baby was born 5 days ago and on the same floor as the fire is now. When I visited her daily I was falling from surprise into surprise. Nurses that demand money if you want to see your own baby, doctors (also non-Romanians) that refuse treatment if they do not get paid at least 600 RON. Gas installations that are in the open with people (read nurses) smoking right next to it in and outside the hospital. Nurses smoking literally in the hallways of that floor. It's such a mess in that place I'm not surprised something went wrong."

During a press conference this morning, a journalist from Hotnews.com asked how it was possible that the ward director, Bogdan Marinescu, also served as the head of a gynaecology/obstetrics section owned by his own wife and son (see this link - a very lucrative pad off Soseaua Kiseleff). Cseke said that the origin of the tragedy should be detected before such answers were given. Marinescu himself, director of the same hospital for twenty seven years, said he didn't think his resignation would be a solution and dodged answering the journalist regarding conflicts of interest. Nepotism. Corruption. Even in the health care service. Those in positions of power profitting from innocent lives, in this case, newly-born premature babies. Has Marinescu no shame? (see Hotnews)

The agony of a new mother on hearing that her baby has just burned to death in its incubator - a place of supposed safety - doesn't even bear thinking about. I cannot imagine her pain, her loss, her grief. How will she get through such a tragedy? the people who were supposed to be caring for her premature child were nowhere to be found and the director doesn't think his resignation would be a solution... vai de mine...no, Mr Marinescu, but it sure would be a tiny sign of humble respect for the negligence of your staff from the very top of the ladder to the very lowest rung. It is YOUR hospital, YOUR staff and YOUR bloody responsibility.

The eight babies on the severely critical list are five days old and have 70-80% burns... will noone pay for this? Will noone step up and be responsible? It is a not only a public outrage but a national shame.

The whole of the medical staff - all 115 of them - are being questioned and the nurse on duty that night is said to be 'in shock'. And so she should be. The fire was not detected in time but would have been had she been there to detect it. I hope she is lynched by a mother who has lost her child. Really. I was a nurse, too. I know the responsibility that weighed on her shoulders for it also weighed on mine. If she couldn't do the job then she shouldn't have been there at all.

Medical officials have blamed the tragedy on a poor healthcare system. Genius. Sure. It is never their fault. Always someone else to blame, a system, a procedure, a service, the illusive 'them'. When will people stop passing the buck, step up to the mike and be damned responsible. When? Does something as appalling as this tragedy have to happen before people take notice and someone actually moves a little finger up there on the Roumanian equivalent of Mount Olympus? Does it? Yes, I'm raving. I'm raving because of the injustice to innocent beings who couldn't climb out of their incubators and run to safety. I'm raving because  it could have been any of our babies. I'm raving for tiny little five day old innocents covered in unimaginable burns and three others left on a table ALONE where they died from smoke inhalation and asphyxia. I'm raving at the negligence and the irresponsibility of both staff and management. And I'm raving for a country of people who deserve better. So much better. For shame...

Raed Arafat (perfectly named if I may say so) said in a press conference today that the intervention to evacuate was carried out correctly. I beg to differ. Mr Arafat is lying. Elsewhere one can read that "staff failed to move the babies to safety from the time they called the emergency services to the time they arrived. Everyone was eventually evacuated including both pregnant women and those in labour" (ABC News). Let's see that again. Staff FAILED to move the babies...and everyone was EVENTUALLY evacuated.... Mr Arafat, please reword your statement and stop covering up for what is very clearly a serious glitch in the running of an institution meant to care for babies and their mothers.

See video here of the evacuation from Hotnews.com (in Roumanian) and this one here from CNN (in English) - thank you my Sufletel for sending them. 

Roumania's medical services are considered among the worst in the EU. Safety and hygiene standards haven't changed much since communist times. Look no further than the nine year old boy who was taken to hospital last month with a broken arm (hardly life threatening) and died due to infection and lack of treatment probably because his parents didn't have the money to pay spaga to the medical staff:  - negligence and total, flagrant absence of professionalism. The cases are endless and easy to find. Here's another - a ten year old who died on Monday, 16th August in Oltenia - cause: malpractice:  Patients are at risk every single day from chronic underfunding and the pure braindrain of medical staff. Who can blame them for leaving? But who will take their place? It's a vicious circle of desperation...and the patients, ie. the sick, the infirm and the helpless carry the can every single time.

I heard this evening that the orthodox priest of the hospital has refused to give an orthodox burial to the baby victims of Giulesti because they were not baptised (see here). But the very idea of a man of God saying such a thing is beyond all stretches of the imagination. I will not debate the practices of the orthodox church nor its beliefs, but I would like to know how a 5 day old premature baby in an incubator is expected to have been baptised in the days that followed since its birth? "Come little children, come unto me," said Christ. The church and its spokesmen (the priests) so to speak are there for a reason - to guide, to show compassion and to spread Christ's teachings, right? So, what is this cruelty? It is almost as dreadful as the tragedy itself - if not more so. Empathy and compassion for families in terrible, all consuming grief are little to ask for from a priest and comforting, reassuring these families are certainly part of his job description under the paragraph of pastoral care. He has offered a 'slujba de consolare' to the families however - how generous and how insensitive... I certainly hope there will be such outrage and public outcry that the Patriarch will not take the absence of baptism into consideration - it cannot possibly be, for it defies all the teachings of Christ. Perhaps if the right palms are crossed with silver, an exception can be granted... My head is still spinning from such a stance. For those of you reading who are orthodox and agree with the priest's reasoning, then please forgive my horror. I am, as you know, not orthodox, and come from a faith where such a thing wouldn't even have been uttered much less considered.

Just received, an article (thank you Floreena!) from Realitatea where the priest of Sf Vineri Noua, Valentin Fotescu, advises mothers that they can baptise their own children themselves if they feel their lives are in danger. He gives details - the words to use, etc... 

I go to bed tonight with a pierced heart from all I have read concerning Giulesti Maternity Hospital and the babies, the negligence, the absence of staff, the faulty wiring/aircon system, the lack of responsibility from anyone concerned, the absence of resignation from those who bear the weight of these deaths on their shoulders and the heartlessness of a priest.

How could things have ever got so rotten? And how does one salvage the mess?______________________________________________________________________

UPDATE 18th August: Ziare.com reports today in their first item, quote: 'Fireman have discovered an improvisation made to the air-conditioning on ITU although equipment was checked on July 20th'. By whom? They are the first to blame since they were responsible for an efficient system. And what exactly do they mean by 'improvisation'? Anyone who has worked with Roumanian plumbers and electricians will know the answer to that (sorry, no offence meant, but they can be extremely creative when it comes to covering up a botched job)... In an intensive care unit??? Improvisation.

Two investigators specialising in criminal affairs and thirty members of the police force are working on the case around the clock.

News on the baby victims that is simply mind-boggling: because the little plastic identitiy bracelets melted in the fire, they must be legally identitified. I don't understand it. The parents know their own child and the staff knew which babies were on the table and where. Or did they not bother to call the little bundles by name? Is there such heartless indifference in that ITU? Apparently, all shall be revealed tomorro. Tomorrow...another 24h of anguish and agony for the parents and families of the babies killed by sheer and unadulterated negligence.

Ten doctors from Israel are reported to have arrived at the G.Alexandrescu hospital where the surviving babies are currently being treated and BIG NEWS: all the surviving eight have now been baptised. Back to the ten doctors. Why have they come? Arafat replied, "to see if they could "ajuta cu ceva" ie. help with anything. They were invited by the City of Bucharest, by all accounts. 'Invited' is an interesting word. And then i was told about 'fudul', well, then it's evident that they could not beg/plead/or just ask for help...They have to 'invite' instead. Why from Israel, I don't know. As Floreena just said, "maybe the French were on holiday and the Germans were fed up with being called." If it wasn't so tragic I'd be laughing... the article says that the team caring for the babies at G.Alexandrescu are very experienced and qualified...so what do they need these ten extra pairs of hands for then? Perhaps (and I'm surmising) they would like some kind of international witnessing in case there are any more screw-ups? But that's just a suggestion purely on my part...

More news as it happens - and thank you, sufletel meu, for your translation help.

Comments

[pantel]

Je suis tout à fait d'accord avec cette mobilisation. Le moment est venu que l'on ne se contente plus de s'indigner et de se sècher les larmes....

[Mariane]

Je comprends très bien que chacun doit prendre position, faire entendre sa voix haut et fort, mais je dois reconnaître que j ai du mal à exprimer autre chose que l horreur et une énorme compassion, c est affreux - et au moment où mes enfants vivent des moments inoubliables avec leur tout petit, mon coeur est carrément malade en pensant aux pauvres parents ..

Pourquoi je ne peux aller plus loin ?

C'est encore mon problème de "vieille peau" qui ne peut pas fonctionner sans essayer de faire la "part des choses"...

Faire ce qu on appelle un "amalgame" c est facile, pourtant je me rends bien compte que ce que je fais moi, ne mène à rien :

Il s agit pour moi de trois problèmes différents :

1)L "accident" lui même, qui soulève les critiques les plus acerbes concernant les causes matérielles et autres

2) Pourquoi ce manque d'éthique ? Quelle relation avec les dizaines d années d écrasement de la personnalité, transmis en suite à ses propres enfants? Dans ces conditions là on n est plus capable de morale ? Seulement dans sa famille et lorsque des intérêts sont en jeu ? Faut-il être vraiment audessus de cette misère intérieure infligée par les années de "servage" pour être capable d être humain, échapper au m'en foutisme ? Arriver à se dire qu on est responsable de vies dans son service hospitalier ?

3) Le refus du "Pope" d enterrer ces malheureux selon les rites religieux ? C'est quoi, ça ? C' est une honte !
Selon moi, être enterré comme ci ou comme cela n'a aucune importance, mais un homme d' église se cache derrière le manque de baptême pour infliger le coup de grâce ?

[aylinB]

As I am only 15 I may not see the gravity of this ignorance as it really is. and as i would do almost anything to study and than maybe live abroad I cannon comment too much on the fact that there's no one left to make a change in this beautiful country.All of us want something else, run away from this torture. But what I can see is that there IS ignorance and more than this there is no honesty. Yes, It is hard to raise your hand on "Mount Olympus" and admit you are guilty but it is not impossible. Nothing will change unless we become truly honest to ourselves and then to others around us.
Dear Sarah, maybe you saw the Romanian movie "Moartea domnului Lazarescu"in which the exact same behaviors are being captured and a poor old man who started by having stomach ache ends up dead twelve hours later making a brain strike because the doctors couldn't even find out what his illness was and what hospital he should go to. Very good movie. But in the same time seeing that it's easier making a movie in which the sad reality is shown to all Romanians(who already know it) instead of trying to change it is really painful.
My grandfather died because of the same kind of ignorance and my mother STILL payed spaga. For what? For this. Like she sad, it's sad.
But sometimes, when we see people like you who "cry out loud" for a country they love and care about is really overwhelming. Thank you.
Hopefully, the next generations will appreciate and bring these kind of moralities to the "top"of Romania especially politics and maybe this way people would look up to better principles so they can start doing something different.

[aurab]

I am Sad; just sad but a sadness that is so deep...that gives the feeling I can not breath.... and is getting deeper as weeks, years are passing as events like this tragedy in Giulesti are showing me what I already know. I am so sorry I can not be raving - like you dear Sarah nor ashamed and outraged. I wish I could be...but as Adrian, I stopped hoping.."It will only be saved by the end of the world." he says.
Maybe not at the end of the world.... just the end of our civilization; we created so beautiful things but we also created chaos and we will pay our tribute by disappearing one day..-like Djuvara said.
I gave birth to Aylin in Giulesti Maternity -1994- And I still had to tip the nurses for letting me see the baby. How could I even expect someone will be kind enough to show me -as a "young" mother at her first baby- how to feed (no milk was coming) or the fact that if I do not take the milk I will get an infection...which I did.
I was so naive to hope that things will get better in time but what happened at Giulesti is killing the Hope.
I love my country and I still think it could be heaven on earth (not in my life time though, and probably in another dimension.)
But today I,(we), can not do anything for those babies and their mothers ( just hope their souls will be well received back in the Universe) nor for other hundreds poor souls that are dying alone, hungry and in cold/or hot....... but we do not find out about them.
The "Disease"/Plague that is around us is much bigger than individuals; it has a shape and it is spread too much and even supreme sacrifice is only keeping it still for just one moment only.
Are you asking yourselves sometimes why nobody was pushing Romania to develop health system and education? We have a "joke" of private hospital and our educational system is dying slowly.
I see a message here: "you are too many and educated. We shall arrange this in time."
It may sound to you like a conspiracy theory but what I saw in the last 15 years is telling me I am close enough.
We are all looking for better people to come and rule this country.. Which people? Whom to chose? Even if I will go there I know that in 2 month I will give up because if I do not, I will need to change all my principles of life. If ONE of the 500 most rich people of Romania (and 200 women) will built first hospital or first school( or at least renovate them) with Their money, than, we may have a good candidate. To change things you need Power and in our World Power is Money.Full stop./No comment.

[misu]

While what happened is a tragedy of the proportions it is, we had it coming. We know what happens in the Romanian sanitation sys and how it cannot cope with the basics. I honestly don't think Marinescu's resigning would make any difference. Resigning not made voluntarily has no value, I think, the man doesn t feel any guilt, doesn t feel responsible for the mess..How can you punish someone with no conscience? If you remove him forcibly you ll only make him feel oppressed.

Radical reforms are needed to prevent this happening again but there s no reform in sight.