In total, 11 people died in the fire that destroyed the intensive care unit of the county hospital in Piatra Neamt on Saturday, November 14. The Prosecutor-General’s Office has launched an investigation on suspicion of negligent homicide, taking over the investigation from the Neamţ County Prosecutor’s Office.
In the wake of the tragic hospital fire in Piatra Neamț, investigations were conducted at medical institutions throughout the country; due to its lack of a fire permit, the emergency hospital in Sepsiszentgyörgy/ Sfântu Gheorghe was fined RON 10,000, Hungarian news portal, maszol.ro reports.
Professionals inspected the functioning of the hospital’s intensive care unit, Róbert András-Nagy, director of the Sepsiszentgyörgy/ Sfântu Gheorghe hospital, reported.
The inspectors stated that the Sepsiszentgyörgy/ Sfântu Gheorghe hospital does not have a valid fire permit, thus a fine of RON 10,000 was imposed. Besides this, it was recorded that the hospital did not have sufficient personnel nor did it have coronavirus patients properly separated into infected, not infected, and possibly infected. There were “problems” with the structure of the hospital building as well.
Róbert András-Nagy pointed out: They were aware of the alleged problems, but they would have expected the authorities to come up with solutions to these issues, but they did not do that. According to the director, the hospital does not have a fire permit because they have been continuously modernizing the building. He believed it better to have a new, renovated building that is safe — albeit it without a permit as that is forthcoming — than an outdated, old building with a permit.
The director further added that they would still have to hire 20 additional professionals to create the disaster management unit of the hospital and that these employees are supposed to help fight fires and get patients to safety. But according to the director, they would not be able to perform these functions, as there are separate regulations for personnel to cover such responsibilities, plus they cannot train employees for such tasks. András-Nagy also noted that this was not the first inspection of the hospital, and they have had to send daily reports to officials, taking away both time and energy from resolving the actual issues.
Featured photo: hirmondo.ro
