The Ministry of Health notified the General Prosecutor’s Office after 12 patients with disabilities were discharged from the County Hospital in Drobeta Turnu Severin and transferred to an NGO in Bacău county.
Alexandru Rogobete, Minister of Photo Health: Government of Romania
The case came to the attention of the authorities, at the beginning of July, after seven of the 12 patients were brought back by the NGO representatives and abandoned in the yard of the Mehedinti Social Assistance Directorate. People have waited outside in the sun for several hours, without anyone taking any measure. There he brought Viorel Pasca, the president of the “Dumbrava” Association, a bihorean who cares for over 300 people in his own house, without being authorized. He called 112 to announce that he left the seven patients in front of the DGASPC, motivating that the authorities did not provide him with the necessary documents, according to Digi24.
The incident occurred as a result of the fact that the Neuropsychiatry Section of the Drobeta Turnu Severin County Hospital in which the patients were admitted has been rehabilitated. It was established that the 12 patients be moved to an NGO in Bihor on June 16. They were taken over, being sent the medical files only for five of them.
Subsequently, following the appearance of this incident, serious irregularities were discovered in the process of discharge and transfer of patients with severe intellectual disabilities. The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete, ordered sanctions for the manager of the sanitary unit (10,000 lei), for the medical director (10,000 lei) and for the hospital (30,000 lei), and the control report carried out by the State Sanitary Inspection is transmitted to all the competent authorities in justice.
“I submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office, on July 9, the report of the State Sanitary Inspection, related to the case from Mehedinti. The persons in that health unit did not comply with the protocols of care, transfer, discharge and relocation of these patients in other sanitary or medico-social units. The same day, the Ministry of Health has applied sanctions, from top to bottom: manager, medical director, care director, head of section and sanitary unit”, Said the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete.
The NGO representative where patients have been transferred claims to work legally although not authorized
Also, regarding the Bihor NGO, where the patients were transferred, it is not authorized. Viorel Pasca claims that they offer these people a home, change their bulletins, and, in his opinion, works legally.
“To be authorized, first of all, I should drastically reduce the number of patients, because I have 4-5 patients in the room. You need only two. Yes, and what do I do with that three? You need toilet in each room. So, the patient cannot go to the toilet to the end of the corridor, because it is far. With some of the patients who reach Dumbrava, we do not generalize, there are people who have done nothing. Why do you think they have no pension? That they didn’t work all their lives. Says the state no, no, no. Give it luxury conditions, better than all people. I also ask. Why? It’s not normal! I can’t! But I can, I wouldn’t do it!“Said Viorel Pasca, president of the” Dumbrava “Association, at Digi24.
He also stated that, in almost 20 years, he received patients from most hospitals in Romania, especially people without belongings. He states that even the police took such people to his home.
