The dramatic situation in which the Emergency Hospital is St. Pantelimon in the Capital will not end too soon. The reason? The ATI section, closed in the autumn of last year for capital renovations, remained with the lock on the door. The Ministry of Health, which promised then that the works will be ready in a few months, has not offered any concrete response so far. Meanwhile, patients in critical condition are treated in sections, in UPU and even in the operative blocks.
The current ATI section of Pantelimon Hospital does not cope with the number of patients. Archive
Patients in serious condition, who need intensive care care have been moved to a temporary space. “However, the new section is much smaller. We have only 12 beds here, but we are an emergency hospital and patients come to us on a treadmill ”, They confessed, under the protection of anonymity, sources within the hospital.
The marathon of horror. Doctors run between floors asking not to get too late
This is why not all patients benefit from hospitalization in ATI, even if they need: “We have two categories of patients. Those admitted to the sections and whose health are degraded, but also those brought to the UPU either by ambulance or by belongings. And you can’t refuse them, you’re not allowed. You have to get them and do as you can. But where to treat everyone? And then some are admitted to the new section of ATI, others we keep in UPU, others remain in the sections, and others are cared for in the operative blocks. To give you an idea, from May last year and so far, in UPU, there have been over 180 patients with the need for ATI. Over 180! ”.
Because the critical patients are spread throughout the hospital, the doctors run from section to section as in the marathon: “We have at least two doctors who are on guard and cannot cope. They must run between the ground floor, the one, the second floor, three, four, five and the operating block. And you do not go to them just to measure their tension. ” It is true, aThere were people who were redirected to other hospitals, but not because Pantelimon would have received help, but because those patients needed specialized care. “A resuscitated stop that descended to be a heart attack was directed to the designated hospital for coronarography ”, Sources from the hospital told us.
The new section of ATI has 12 beds, compared to the one closed this autumn, which had 25. “But they were not enough. Because we are an emergency hospital, and the flow is a huge one. And what did I do? I rescheduled for the operation the cases that suffered postponement and prioritized the serious cases. If patients with polytrauma come to us and do not have access to ATI, then they remain in the operating block they block. I really do not know how we will handle it ”, the doctors complain.
Sources within the hospital confessed to us that, with the closure of the ATI section for renovation, the management sent papers to the ambulance and SMURD services announcing that they will provide the patients with a small number of beds: “We also provide Ialomița and Călărași county and the neighboring areas of Bucharest. You need doctors, it is perfectly true, but you also need places in ATI. And the new section is very small. Doctors should carry out their activity under optimal conditions. You can’t take care of your standards for a patient who is so … anywhere. Doctors are asked to save lives. But how? What? And where? ”
“If a patient needs surgery, everything is over”
The new Intensive Care section is located on the Five Floor of the Hospital, where before the pandemic is the Orthopedics section: “With the pandemic, I needed a space to arrange a section for Covid patients. Then it was decided that the orthopedic section should be divided into two: the larger area remained orthopedics, the other smaller area was intended for Covid patients. Then there were some works, some arrangements in this regard ”. This ATI section, initially intended for Covid patients, is currently hosting critical patients brought from everywhere to Pantelimon.
The ATI section of Sf. Pantelimon was closed last year in September, immediately after the scandal in which two doctors were accused of premeditating murder: “It couldn’t actually work under those conditions. No longer corresponded to the rules in force. For example, patients need a larger surface for beds, the distance between them has increased. And many other aspects that had to be developed. In order to operate properly, you must follow these rules, norms ”.
If the doctors in UPU do, being able to monitor and treat a patient who needs intensive care, a surgeon has no way to do this: “If, God forbid. The patient needs surgery, everything is over. The surgeon cannot operate it because we have no places in ATI ”.
Raed Arafat, the only one who reached for a helping hand
Sources within the hospital also told us that not only the lack of doctors and beds in ATI are a problem, but also the lack of medical equipment: “It was given a law that we are no longer allowed to buy fixed assets with a value greater than a certain amount. And in our hospital there are bracarers received through the World Bank in 2007. Some we are not allowed to buy. Do you know that I brought home charges for various specials because the hospital does not have? ”
The only support came from Raed Arafat: “Dr. Arafat through DSU lent to us medical equipment, equipment that is now with us. If DSU currently withdraws our medical equipment, UPU Pantelimon dies in second two. We will only stay in a fan and with three monitors. And so. “
Doctors within Pantelimon Hospital ask the Ministry of Health to urgently start the renovation of the ATI section in order to continue their activity. The hospital also calls for help to cover the vacant positions following the resignation of five ATI doctors.
Șerban Bubenek, president of the Romanian Society of Anesthesia and Intensive Care. Archive
Specialist in ATI: “No solutions, whispers come from the system”
After, initially, Serban Bubenek, the president of the Romanian Society of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, told “Adevărul” that he does not know the situation in Pantelimon, he did not want to comment on this topic and closed our phone, he returned to a few hours on the statement. In a press conference he announced that next week he will pay a visit to the hospital, where he will have a meeting with the management of the medical unit: “I also attracted the attention of the Minister of Health that he did not keep his word, neither his team. This delay is not beneficial to anyone. Solutions do not come from the system, whispers come, although the solutions should come from those who are in power. What I can tell you is that next week I will go to Pantelimon and I would like to see what the spaces say they say will be renovated. Because, from what I understood, the project was since autumn. It is difficult to find people who want to change the fate of relationships between patients and doctors at Pantelimon as long as you do not have a place to receive these patients under civilized conditions. Because the first contact with the health system that these people have must be a 21st century. ”
