Update on Giulesti Maternity Hospital tragedy

Update on Giulesti Maternity Hospital from Alison Mutler at Associated Press. The "flight of the angels" ceremony in front of the hospital today, I think, has been my undoing...:

By ALISON MUTLER
Associated Press Writer
08-18-2010 18:18

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  Israeli doctors who rushed to Romania on Wednesday said they feared there was not much they could do to help seven premature infants who were critically burned in a hospital fire that left four other babies dead.

Romanian doctors at Bucharest's Grigore Alexandrescu children's hospital where the injured babies are being treated said the infants weigh just 1 to 2.5 kilograms (2.2 to 5.5 pounds) and are burned on up to 80 percent of their bodies and respiratory tracts.

Responding to a public outcry about the accident, Bucharest deputy mayor Mircea Iovici said city hall had fired the management at the maternity hospital. There were also calls for the resignation of Health Minister Attila Cseke.

Monday's blaze at Giulesti maternity hospital forced the evacuation of dozens of babies and women _ some in labor and provoked a wave of public indignation, throwing light on Romania's poorly funded and understaffed health system.

Romanian health official Marius Savu said there had been one nurse on duty at the intensive care unit instead of the mandatory four because of staffing cuts, Mediafax news agency reported.

Doctor Josef Haik, part of a team from Tel Aviv University, told reporters that "I don't think we can do any more here."

"Their condition can change at any moment, but they are cared for by a professional team," he said. "We've treated premature babies, but we have not seen so many cases in one place."

Thousands of doctors have left Romania in recent years for better paid jobs abroad. Hospitals are understaffed and cannot hire, as the government battles a sharp economic downturn and tries to keep the budget deficit down.

Relations with Israel have become closer in recent months, after six Israeli airmen died in a helicopter crash in July during joint training exercises with Romania. President Traian Basescu promised Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, that his country would be a "loyal partner" of Israel in the event of a conflict with Iran.

Savu said he had discussed transferring some of the infants to Israel, but was advised against it.

Dozens of people gathered outside the hospital, where the fire occurred, to light candles and leave flowers and fluffy toys. Mothers later said prayers and released dozens of balloons representing the souls of the dead infants in a ceremony they called "the flight of angels."

It is still not clear what caused the fire, but unconfirmed media reports pointed to a malfunctioning air conditioning unit. An investigation is still under way to determine the cause of the blaze.

Is Savu a doctor? He's a medical official, okay, so you would think he would have some notion of medical training in order to do his job, right? Logical? What an idiot to suggest transferring babies in such a critical condition. With severe burns on up to 80% of their bodies and their respiratory tracts burnt, too.... I can't even bear to think about it. But what we have here is a long list of imbeciles completely incapable of working in positions of responsibilty. Moving tiny babies at this point would surely bring forth their demise. Thank God for the intelligence from Israel since there sure isn't any right now in Roumania...

I have in my mind the very vivid image of the ceremony of the "flight of the angels" and I can only weep...the releasing of balloons into the blue, blue skies of Bucharest to symbolically free the souls of their babies...my God...how moving, how sad... Words fail me right now. I cannot express my thoughts. I just see the balloons through my tears, floating up, up, up until they are out of sight... 

Needless, impotent, ignorant imbeciles in positions of trust did this, caused this pain... The maternity administration staff have been fired. Good. That's the least that could be done. Marinescu should be in jail and Cseke should now be ex-minister of health. The nurse who was alone when she should have had three other collegues with her will remain alone in a very cold place, I am sure. That error was ultimately Marinescu's. While his practice on Aviator Zorileanu (Bdul Marasti) is raking in the mint, Giulesti Maternity Hospital could not pay staff on an intensive care unit... Rusine!

LATEST NEWS: From Romania Libera: The entire management team have been dismissed and the acting director for now is Victoria Nicolau who was involved in a malpractice scandal when a 40 year old mother died in 2007 following a c-section after 12h of labour because she had not been given a required blood transfusion despite continual blood loss...

The fire was indeed caused by faulty wiring in the air-con system - a system, incidentally that should NEVER have been installed in a hospital. It was burnt out and knackered and my question is this: if it had been inspected on July 20th of this year, how did it pass the inspection??? Shoddy, short-cutting, money-pinching management is how....