ASSMB : Medical care continuity can no longer be ensured due to lack of personnel

Medical care continuity can no longer be ensured in Romania due to lack of personnel amid the cuts operated in the funding of health institutions, general director of the Administration of Bucharest Hospitals and Medical Services (ASSMB) Oana Sivache said on Thursday, as cited in a press statement."Hospitals no longer have enough doctors, nurses and auxiliary staff. The health of Romanians is at jeopardy, whether they are patients or medical staff. The lack of hospital staff means the exhaustion of the existing personnel, who is forced to extra work, resulting in physical exhaustion and implicitly in providing deficient medical care," Oana Sivache said.The Emergency Room of the Dr. Victor Gomoiu Children's Clinical Hospital in Bucharest, under the coordination of the ASSMB, is in danger of being closed due to the shortage of medical professionals, as hiring has been blocked since last year. ASSMB asserts that more than 40 nurses and orderlies have left and could not be replaced. In the last three weeks, around 500 children were diagnosed with flu at this health facility. There are only two operational doctors at the Emergency Room, who are overwhelmed by the patient inflow, as between 120 and 170 children come in every day, the release says."The rulers have driven the medical system towards an imminent collapse by ignoring the health crisis and by drastically cutting funding to hospitals, thus putting the lives of patients in a critical situation," the ASSMB said.The Administration of Bucharest Hospitals and Medical Services mentions that it has "repeatedly" petitioned the government to unblock jobs, but the Executive "chose to ignore its requests.""No government in this world makes savings at the cost of the health of its own people. The government must protect public health - this is also a moral imperative, not just a legal obligation. It is unacceptable that patients are treated in a discriminatory manner, based on the hospital's affiliation to the Health Ministry, town halls or county councils," emphasized Oana Sivache.The ASSMB addressed the government a new urgent call, asking for quick solutions to prevent the "general collapse of the medical system."