Radio România Internațional

Tag: Health Ministry

  • Epidemiological alert in Romania

    Epidemiological alert in Romania

    Whether we’re talking about flu, pneumonia or other viruses, the number of respiratory infections has been increasing in the last several weeks, prompting health authorities to declare a state of epidemiological alert in Romania on Thursday. The decision was designed to limit the spread of infections and factors in the data of the last week, when nearly 134,000 patients were diagnosed with respiratory symptoms. Of these, 11,000 had the flu, compared to 7,000 in the previous period. Increasing from one week to the next, the number has exceeded the average of recent flu seasons, according to health authorities, who also announced eight related fatalities last week. Thus, in the current cold season, the total number of confirmed deaths from the influenza virus has reached 22. Hospitals across the country have already taken measures adapted to the epidemiological situation, limiting visits.

     

    The Health Ministry recommends the population observe general measures to prevent illness and the spread of viruses, from regular hand washing, covering the nose and mouth with tissues when coughing and sneezing and disposing of them properly, or using the crook of the arm or the inner elbow when coughing. At the same time, it is necessary to ventilate the rooms daily and avoid crowded places. When symptoms of a cold or flu become manifest, people are urged to contact their family physicians to establish the proper treatment. It is also advisable to avoid entering the community of people who have signs and symptoms associated with the flu (fever, sneezing, coughing, sore throat, muscle pain) until they disappear, healthcare professionals say.

     

    In the case of nursery and regular schools, the Ministry advises daily observational triage, recommending regular updates to parents concerning signs and symptoms of respiratory diseases, keeping children reporting symptoms at home, providing the necessary materials to sanitize hands and surfaces periodically. Representatives of the Health Ministry also draw attention to the fact that the safest and most effective method of preventing the flu and its severe forms is vaccination. This is particularly recommended to people suffering from chronic medical conditions, children, pregnant women, medical and auxiliary personnel in hospitals and outpatient units, as well as to people over 65 years of age. (VP)

  • Additional Funds for Healthcare

    Additional Funds for Healthcare

    In order to support
    the healthcare sector hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the interim government
    in Bucharest has disbursed an additional 66.5 million Euro to the Health
    Ministry from its reserve fund. The money will be used to purchase more
    anti-COVID-19 vaccine shots and to fund national healthcare programs. Anti-flu,
    anti-HPV and hexavalent vaccine shots will also be purchased. As regards the
    treatment of COVID patients, interim minister Cseke Attila said Romania has
    sufficient stocks of Remdesivir, although more stocks will be bought soon.


    70,000 new phials
    of Remdesivir will be bought. Right now, we have sufficient stocks to last us
    the next few weeks, but we want to ensure a continuous treatment in hospitals
    across Romania. We will start public procurement procedures for this type of
    drug.


    The additional
    funds will be used to supplement the number of meal vouchers handed to people
    taking the anti-COVID shot, the Minister says. The new funds add to the
    previous two budget increases in late September, used to purchase drugs for COVID
    patients and to ensure the funding of the intensive care programme. In October,
    more money was made available from the government’s reserve fund to purchase
    serums for the national vaccination program. The healthcare system is overrun by
    the large number of COVID patients and hospitals are overcrowded. Against this
    backdrop, a new fire was reported on Thursday morning in Ploiești, southern
    Romania, in a ward treating COVID patients. The fire broke out in the
    infectious disease ward of the Ploiești County Hospital, at the time treating 20
    patients. Two patients died in the fire, and a nurse sustained serious burns. The
    incident follows less than a month after the fire at the Constanța Infectious
    Disease Hospital, which killed 7 patients. It’s also the fourth such tragedy in
    less than a year, after the fires at Piatra Neamț, which killed 10 people, and the
    one at Matei Balș Institute in the capital city, when 4 people also died. In
    the last year, several other fires were reported in hospitals across the
    country, which could have led to tragedies. In April, three patients died when the
    oxygen delivery system of the mobile intensive care unit located within the
    premise of the Victor Babeș Hospital in Bucharest caught fire. (VP)

  • April 4, 2020

    April 4, 2020

    DECREE – The
    Bucharest Government has passed an emergency decree transferring all medical
    units into the authority of the Health Ministry, Health Minister Nelu Tataru
    announced on Friday. The Romanian official pointed out that Public Health
    Directorates and Ambulance Services will start recruiting over the coming days.
    Some 4.7 million euros have been allotted for real-time molecular tests. There
    are currently 35 testing centers in Romania, compared to only one on February
    26. Minister Tataru said there are currently three COVID-19 hotbeds in Romania:
    Suceava in the northeast and Arad and Deva in the west. The Romanian official
    said there aren’t sufficient reasons to instate total quarantine for Arad and
    Deva. Suceava and 8 neighboring villages have entered total quarantine early
    this week. The death toll in Romania has reached 133. The number of infections
    stands at 3,183, of whom 283 people have recovered. 83 patients are in
    intensive care. Of the total number of infected 474 are medical staff, mostly
    from Suceava. Some 13,000 people are quarantined at national level and over
    110,000 are in home isolation. 221 Romanian citizens abroad have tested
    positive for COVID-19 and 25 have died.




    CORONAVIRUS IN THE
    WORLD – The global death toll for the coronavirus has exceeded 59,000. The
    World Health Organization says over 200 countries and territories are currently
    being affected. The most serious situation is in the United States, which
    reports a quarter of the total number of infections, and in Europe, the
    continent with the largest number of deaths. The WHO warns that COVID-19 might
    seriously hit Japan next, unless this country takes swift prevention measures.
    In Europe, the number of infections in Spain has exceeded that of Italy,
    standing at some 11,000. Italy instead is reporting decreasing number of
    infections, and the death toll is closing in on 15,000. France reports the third-largest
    number of victims, over 6,500.




    RECESSION -The coronavirus pandemic has brought the global economy
    to a standstill and plunged the world into a recession that will be way worse
    than the global financial crisis a decade ago, the head of the International
    Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday. The IMF official called on
    advanced economies to step up their efforts to help emerging markets and
    developing countries survive the economic and health impact of the pandemic. A
    similar message was delivered by World Bank President, David Malpass. The
    European Commission and the European Investment Bank have green-lit the
    disbursement of 700 million euros to the agri-food sector as part of the
    Investment Plan for Europe. The program will help maintain and create new jobs
    in rural areas. The Commission has announced a temporary suspension of customs
    taxes and VAT for medical and protection imports from outside the EU, which
    will ease pressure on public spending for national governments.




    LEGISLATION – Parliament on Friday passed three bills regarding the
    suspension of the bank loan payments, technical unemployment and fiscal
    measures aimed at helping individuals and businesses. The plenary session was
    held online and MPs voted via telephone. Under the first bill, initiated by the
    Social Democrats, bank loan payments can be suspended on demand, without
    interest rates or penalties. The Social-Democrats say the document will correct
    errors in the emergency decree passed by the Liberal Government. The Liberals,
    in power, say they will refer the bill to the Constitutional Court, saying it
    is a populist measure that piles up pressure on the state budget. The Liberals
    will also challenge the bill that postpones the payment of social security
    contributions and utility bills for a period of three months, which addresses
    people who have filed for technical unemployment benefits. All parties in
    Parliament voted the bill that proposes the payment of an allowance tantamount
    to 75% of the base salary of employees affected by the reduction or suspension
    of activity.




    PALM SUNDAY – Catholic Christians worldwide are celebrating Palm
    Sunday, marking the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where the crowd welcomed
    him holding palm branches. Palm Sunday marks the start of the last week of
    Lent, also known as Holy Week, when Christians prepare to celebrate the
    Resurrection of Christ. This year, due to restrictions caused by the
    coronavirus pandemic, masses in Romania as well as in other countries will be
    celebrated in empty churches and broadcast on TV, radio or online. The Church
    urges everyone during this pandemic to discover the beauty and plenitude of
    prayer, praying with our loved ones in our churches at home, with our families,
    the spokesman of the Roman-Catholic Diocese in Bucharest, Father Francisc Dobos
    has said, adding that the situation is not ideal, but is the best possible one.
    By uniting in spirit via various means of communication, television, radio or
    the Internet, we stay together with Christ, Francisc Dobos added. This year
    Roman-Catholic Christians celebrate Easter on April 12, while Orthodox
    Christians on April 19.




    (Translated by V. Palcu)







  • Compulsory immunization in Romania

    Compulsory immunization in Romania


    Romanian society has had to cope with many delicate topics in recent months with a powerful dividing impact on society. Adding to that was the latest bill on the compulsory vaccination of children and adults. Kept under wraps by Parliament for years, MPs decided to bring the bill back in the limelight and pass it swiftly, apparently in reaction to the coronavirus crisis. In brief, the draft law stipulates that all vaccines included in the national immunization programme become compulsory. Other vaccines might become compulsory in an epidemiological emergency, with the exception of special cases where physicians confirm the vaccine is ill-advised. Parents will have to say whether they agree to vaccinate their children at birth. If parents say no and there is no certified medical opinion against taking the vaccine, family physicians will have to present the benefits of vaccination to the parents. If parents still refuse, then a group of specialists with the Health Ministry will provide counseling over the course of three months. If at the end of a year parents still refuse to vaccinate their child, they will be handed a warning and subsequently a fine of up to 2,000 euros.



    At the same time upon enrollment in nursery or primary schools the leadership of the schooling unit must ask parents to produce a certification attesting to the observance of the national vaccination scheme or the existence of medical exemptions or a timetable for administrating the missing vaccines. Another provision in the bill is that the Health Ministry must at all times have a stockpile of vaccines covering the demand for 18 months. Anti-vaccine supporters have been piling pressure on MPs, sending hundreds of messages asking them not to vote a law “that will subject children to forceful injections” imposed by “an occult global mass”. They are invoking freedom of choice as opposed to dictatorship, fearing vaccines might be genetically engineered. Considering 2020 is an election year, political parties have either overtly argued in favor of compulsory immunization, or decided to let each of their members vote his own way.



    The Social-Democratic Party and Pro Romania Party in opposition say they firmly support the compulsory vaccination of children that would protect them against epidemiological risks. The National Liberal Party in power and Save Romania Union in general favor the bill, although there have been some voices on both sides opposing the draft law. We recall that, according to UNICEF statistics, Romania reported some 19,000 cases of measles inflections over 2016-2019, a total of 60 people dying to the epidemic. Most cases were reported in unvaccinated children.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)




  • Vaccination – information and disinformation

    Vaccination – information and disinformation

    The vaccines used in Romania are safe and efficient and are verified according to the highest standards that exist in the world, the Romanian health ministry said in reaction to a disinformation campaign launched in the public space and online. Messages on social media networks and printed materials distributed in busy areas or by post urge people not to have their children vaccinated. To give credibility to their messages, the authors of these materials use, without authorisation, the logos of the Romanian health ministry, the World Health Organisation and UNICEF.



    The health ministry has firmly denied any involvement in this disinformation campaign about the alleged inefficiency and risks of vaccination and warns that the materials distributed contain false information that can confuse parents and pose a threat to people’s lives. The health minister Sorina Pintea says legal action will be taken to hold the people behind this campaign accountable. In a similar reaction, UNICEF and the World Health Organisation say ensuring universal access to immunisation is more important than ever because of the measles epidemic that has broken out in several European countries.



    The two international bodies are worried that the measles vaccination rate in Romania is below the needed 95% threshold that ensures protection for the entire population. UNICEF and the World Health Organisation say they will continue to work with the Romanian health ministry to make sure that parents have access to the needed information and understand the benefits of vaccination, as well as the risks of the diseases that can be prevented through vaccination. They say it is inacceptable to see children dying from measles when a safe and efficient vaccine is available. The two organisations also say that by choosing immunisation for their children, parents will protect their children’s health and help protect the health of those around them. More than 80 fresh cases of measles were reported in Romania in the last week in August, according to the National Centre for the Supervision and Control of Communicable Diseases. According to this source, the total number of measles cases has exceeded 15,000, including 59 deaths.



    Out of four persons who develop measles, one needs hospitalisation, and for 1 in 1,000 people, the disease is deadly. In the experts’ opinion, the costs of prevention through vaccination would have been lower than the cost of treatment provided to the people who have caught measles, a disease which has become endemic in Romania. Specialists say all the deaths and the sick cases could have been prevented if the national calendar for vaccination for children and adults would have been respected in the case of 95% of the population, in keeping with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation. They also call for the sick children and teenagers who have not been vaccinated not to be allowed in groups.


    (Translated by C. Mateescu)