The Foundation For The Defense Of Citizens Against State Abuses (FACIAS) has issued a call to the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, for the immediate deployment of the Control Corps to Giulești Maternity Hospital. This is in response to the recent suspension of admissions to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the hospital, which has been attributed to nosocomial infections. This development has prompted concerns about the management of epidemiological risks and patient safety.
Furthermore, FACIAS requests that the Ministry of Health promptly approve the Methodological Norms for the implementation of Law no. 3/2021 on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of healthcare-associated infections in medical units and residential centres for adults in need in Romania. FACIAS postulates that the postponement of the issuance of these regulations has precipitated the emergence of nosocomial infections at the Giulești Maternity Hospital and cautions that there is an imminent risk of a similar occurrence in other hospitals in Romania.
In January 2023, FACIAS initiated legal proceedings against the Ministry of Health, seeking the issuance of methodological norms for the implementation of Law No. 3/2021, which is crucial for the prevention and treatment of nosocomial infections in medical facilities and residential centres. This lawsuit is currently pending before the courts.
Subsequently, in February 2023, the Ministry of Health drafted the draft rules and made them available for public consultation for a period of one month until 14 March. Following this, the document was no longer posted on the website. Since that time, the Ministry of Health has not taken any concrete action to finalise the procedure for the adoption of the methodological rules, which has resulted in the perpetuation of an incomplete legislative framework. This omission has created favourable conditions for the emergence and spread of nosocomial infections, such as the recent outbreak at Giulești Maternity Hospital, where the suspension of admissions to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was imposed as a precautionary measure following the emergence of several nosocomial infections.
FACIAS has highlighted that had the Methodological Norms for the application of Law no. 3/2021 been issued and applied, the management of Giulești Maternity Hospital would have been legally obliged to organise a service dedicated to the prevention and control of nosocomial infections. Furthermore, in the event of non-compliance with these procedures, the manager of the unit and other responsible persons could have been held legally liable, including through disciplinary or misdemeanour sanctions.
It is worth noting that, despite the critical situation at Giulești Maternity Hospital, the Minister of Health has not yet directed the Control Body to investigate the underlying causes and circumstances surrounding the recent outbreak of nosocomial infections. This year alone, there have been six or seven reported cases of infections among newborn infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where they are particularly susceptible to complications.
It should be noted that the Giulești Maternity Hospital has also been implicated in other significant instances of nosocomial infection. In 2018, hospitalisation was temporarily halted due to an outbreak in which numerous newborns were infected with Staphylococcus aureus. This is the same maternity hospital where, in 2019, a woman succumbed to an infection contracted while in hospital.
The occurrence of nosocomial infections at Giulești Maternity Hospital is not an isolated incident; rather, it is a phenomenon that is pervasive across numerous healthcare facilities in Romania. The 2023 Healthcare-Associated Infections Current Prevalence Study, conducted by the National Institute of Public Health, revealed that 674 cases of healthcare-associated infections were reported in Romanian hospitals. However, experts caution that the actual number of infections may be significantly higher due to underreporting. Infants and newborns remain the most vulnerable patients.
In light of these incidents, FACIAS asserts that the healthcare system's approach to epidemiological risk management is inadequate. As previously emphasised, there is an urgent need to implement comprehensive and effective measures to prevent and control nosocomial infections.