At least ten babies born at the Odobescu Maternity Hospital tested positive for coronavirus
Newly appointed Health Minister Nelu Tataru said it is possible the newborns caught the deadly virus from hospital staff.
Speaking with Antena 3 TV station on Monday, he said: “The mothers tested negative, but the babies tested positive so we have to consider their contacts with medical staff.”
Tataru pointed to the “failures in the activities of both maternity officials and the local public health directorate (DSP)” and promised severe measures if necessary.
The local DSP chief has since been dismissed.
For the past two days I have felt like I am living in a horror film. The staff were not wearing masks.
Mother Of Infected Child
The babies so far have no symptoms but one has gone into self-isolation at home with the mother.
Another mother
One scared mother told a Romanian news website pressalert.com “For the past two days I have felt like I am living in a horror film.
“The staff were not wearing masks.”
The maternity unit was briefly placed under quarantine on March 31 but was reopened the next day on the orders of the local DSP, which insisted at the time that there was “no risk of infection for patients or doctors” even though 13 members of staff had already tested positive.
Medical staff have spoken out in recent weeks over insufficient equipment for those in romania on the frontline.
On Thursday Tataru said that sanitary materials, coveralls and test kits are now available for all hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.
“At this moment we can say that we can provide a certain quantity of sanitary materials, coveralls and test kits for all the hospitals that do not have what they need at this moment to carry out their activity for the treatment of the COVID-19 patients,” he told reporters.
“We have distributed to all the hospitals that are on the front line – the infectious diseases hospitals, to those on the second line, the pneumology, as well as the support hospitals, important quantities of sanitary materials and drugs.
“We also have certain quantities of materials for the country hospitals, which represent the third line of the battle against the coronavirus, in order for them to be prepared for the possible cases of coronavirus or those currently in isolation waiting for a result.”
