Romania Drafts in Army to Run More Hospitals Amid Virus
Romania Drafts in Army to Run More Hospitals Amid Virus
(Bloomberg) --
Romania, where coronavirus deaths exceed everywhere else in eastern Europe, expanded military control over hospitals.
Years of corruption and mismanagement have left medical facilities unprepared. With equipment scarce, there’s been a surge in infections among doctors and nurses who’ve passed the virus on to patients suffering from other illnesses.
The government put the army in charge of two more hospitals, following on from a similar move at a facility in the northern town of Suceava, Romania’s epicenter for Covid-19. Romanian fatalities are currently 346, with confirmed cases nationwide at 6,879, including more than 800 health workers.
“We’re seeing the same pattern, the same problems as in Suceava,” Health Minister Nelu Tataru said Monday. “We have to take swift measures to put things on a normal track.”
Romania isn’t alone in struggling since Covid-19 fanned out across the continent from Italy. But it has a disproportionate share of infections occurring inside medical facilities. Some doctors are even quitting.
The country spends less on health care than any other European Union member and has the highest mortality rate from treatable diseases and one of the bloc’s lowest life expectancies. The government has built one new hospital in three decades.
Easter Risk
At the hospital in Suceava, most doctors are already infected and obliged to self-quarantine, while others are refusing to obey the strict rules imposed by the army.
With many Romanians abroad wanting to return home for Orthodox Easter, the pandemic’s peak is ahead, local epidemiologists say. Almost 500,000 live and work in northern Italy alone.
President Klaus Iohannis, who on Tuesday extended Romania’s state of emergency until at least mid-May, has urged the diaspora not to return. He also called on citizens to respect the strict rules imposed and avoid generating a surge in cases that the health system can’t handle. Social-distancing measures remain in place and schools and most stores will stay closed.
“The danger hasn’t passed so we can’t relax the restrictions because all the efforts we all made so far would’ve been in vain,” Iohannis said. “The new decree states explicitly that during the state of emergency the management of public hospitals can be secured by military personnel.”
Romania is trying to boost the output of face masks and protective suits, with companies redirecting production lines to help.
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