Romania is still the country where nosocomial infections are hidden, not only from the public but also from the authorities. This is a situation that the health ministers who have been in charge of the institution have openly acknowledged, but have done nothing to remedy. The result is that in our country, in hospitals where conditions are not like in Western Europe, the rate of nosocomial infections is 2%, compared to the European average of 8%.
Through the approaches made by FACIAS to the Ministry of Health, INSP, ANMCS, as a result of the numerous complaints received on nosocomial infections, we discovered that the practice of not reporting infections in hospitals is still widespread. And the reasons range from non-enforcement of legal sanctions, to reduced laboratory capacity for IAAM diagnosis or lack of staff.
FACIAS has decided to closely monitor how the latest project launched by the Ministry of Health in this area will be implemented. This is the call for funding through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) for the development of specialist outpatient clinics or the provision of equipment and materials to reduce the risks of healthcare associated infections. Under this programme there will be 25 public hospitals that will be eligible for funding, with an estimated budget of €150,375,000. Projects can be submitted from 25 September to 30 November 2022, and contracts for the winners will be signed in the second quarter of 2023. More information can be found here.
Through this project we need to find out what the reality is. Because it is not the one presented in recent years by the authorities, as they themselves admit. In our country there are 331 hospitals reporting on nosocomial infections: in 2018-2020, 195 deaths due to IAAM were reported cumulatively, and 216 such deaths were reported in 2021.
76% of respondents say they have been affected by nosocomial - themselves or acquaintances.
This is despite the fact that 20% of citizens who responded to the FACIAS questionnaire on the nosocomial infection situation said they had been infected during hospitalisation, and 56% said they had relatives or acquaintances who had contracted such infections in hospital. And more than 96% of respondents urgently called for the issuance of implementing rules for the Law on Nosocomial Infections.
FACIAS, according to its statutory purpose, but also through its constant activity over the past 14 years, defends the rights of citizens and seeks to ensure transparency in the functioning of state institutions as a principle of democracy and the rule of law.