20 September: Jos Parafa

This open letter was sent on 16th September to Basescu, Boc and Cseke, signed by Prof. Dr. Vasile Astarastoae, Prof Dr. Vladimir Belis (vice president of the Romanian College of Medics in Bucharest) and Dr. Florin Chirculescu (head of thoracic surgery in Spitalul Municipal Bucharest) and co-signed by Professor Ion Lascar (president of College of Physicians in Bucharest), Dr Adrian Darabantiu and Dr Claudia Iftode (vice president of TMF, Timis). They will demonstrate on 23rd September:

Open letter to :

President of Romania Mr Traian Basescu

Prime Minister Mr Emil Boc

Minister of Health Mr Atila Cseke

Gentlemen

Health care has reached the end of the line. The last hope of Romanian doctors is to write what’s happening within the system in black and white and if those who lead this country do not understand the gravity of the situation, then this letter is a pale testimony to our colleagues, to what Romanian medicine was and how it has been totally obliterated. This is perhaps the last cry for help from physicians who are still working in Romania.

Gentlemen of the government, please do your duty to your country and resuscitate our health care system. Don’t waste its last breath, its last moment, otherwise it will expire and all of us with it. Sooner or later, the whole Romanian nation will sink, because things cannot continue in this manner.

Yes, it is we doctors who say this, because life and death pass through our hands every day. Who is guilty for the situation we find ourselves in? The chronic underfinancing of our system is all too easy an answer and it is so serious that no one even pays attention to it any more. The underfinancing is part of the landscape of Romania, like the beggars we meet and ignore on the street or the chaotic traffic that stresses us but is part of daily life. The money in times of crisis or well-being is divided according to political interest and not in the interest of the ordinary citizen. What can be said about the Romanian patient, a true European? He cannot take advantage of the same rights, services and medical care as any other member of the European Union because there isn't enough money. Not because we are incompetent. We have the workforce but not the means.

It’s frank, it’s sad but this is the bare truth. Yes, gentlemen of the government, you do not have to put up with such difficulties, so it is rather a challenge for you to understand, but certain things must be told straight. 

The present percentage of the gross natural product is always extremely low and forces the Romanian doctor to become a magician to make the impossible possible. If he cannot, he is automatically considered incompetent and shunned by the whole of society.

We do not ask for 12% like the Americans, but a decent percentage should be allocated to Romanian health. We have humiliated ourselves and begged numerous times but haven’t even received a minimum of 7%. We should acknowledge the fact that we doctors do not know how to ask or negotiate like one would do in a market place with the Romanian state. However, we shouldn’t have to know how to negotiate. We are not market traders. We are doctors.

There is the choice of leaving the country, but why should we all do that? This country is also ours, not only yours, gentlemen. Our grandparents and great-grandparents gave their lives in wars for each patch of land and now we should leave because those in power for the past twenty years have made a mockery of Romanian medicine?

We do not want to be the last to leave and turn off the light. What we wish for is so little and yet still so difficult to obtain, namely to do what we do best – practise medicine, as we learned on the benches of Romanian schools and as our European colleagues do.

If you do not understand, in present conditions, that it is impossible for us to practise our profession, the only radical solution left to us is to renounce it. Do you have any idea of the strange and mixed feelings doctors harbour as they passionately work? The feeling of emptiness and useless effort, helplessness and guilt? The sentiment that we have studied in vain because, besides the passion, we have nothing with which to aid our patients: drugs, equipment, decent work conditions… everything depends on others and not on the doctor who should be saving lives.

What of the patients? What have they done to deserve this? To have been born in a country where the hospitals are not adequate and let’s not even start on the lack of ultra-performance equipment, but just the basics required to diagnose correctly.

Where else have they gone wrong? They cannot afford to have themselves treated abroad where more and more frequently they are able to find Romanian doctors who have left. Furthermore, they do not have enough money to buy the drugs we are prescribing although they contribute to the health budget..

The only thing left for the 21 million Romanians diminishing every day is to pray that they live long and in good health. In Romania you can live any way you choose, but don’t get sick.

In any case, our hopes are empty. We hoped for so long and all we got was crooked laws for which we have had to fight as hard as we could to rectify. Obviously we have not always won the fight. But people who lead us only blame us.

All this for what? For a menial wage so that we have to work thricefold and under extreme conditions as if we were not people under emotional and physical stress. If we are not numerous enough, then how about being cloned, for those who come in reinforcements leave to go abroad anyway. So, clone us, gentlemen of the government, but at your own risk. It is possible that even if there are enough of us, there will be problems within the medical system, weakened over the last decades. Human resources are not adequate to repair the damage done. When it comes to health, you cannot deal in half measures. All decisions should be integrated into one coherent system, not changed from one minister to another.

Source: http://www.paginaMedicala.ro

The above letter was clearly written from the heart. It is a shame that there are a couple of Mioritic phrases that would perhaps have been better to leave out, but asa e. It's done now. Clearly, if the letter had been written by residents, interns and graduates, new doctors, this would have been much stronger, have more impact and finish with a true howl from the soul of a dying system in dreadful pain. These signers and counter-signers have little idea what goes on in real terms of conditions and workload within state institutions. If they did, Florentina Carstea would be out by now for they would have taken up her case long ago out of empathy, compassion and in the name of sheer justice.

It may not have any effect but we can hope. And anyway, if it doesn't, then the demonstrations should. The comments are just as heart-felt and very moving:

Carmen says, "those in leadership positions will probably go abroad to seek medical treatment but they do not think that in a medical emergency there’s no time to leave – so, gentlemen of the government, we need not only good doctors, but also equipment for diagnosis and for prompt and efficient intervention."

A 34 year old who calls himself 'The Neurologist' has started to make arrangements to leave Romania and will probably be gone by the end of the year at the latest writes, "if we want something to be done we have to be united, hit the streets and demand our rights. The time has passed for open letters like this. Those who decide in our country are not gentlemen but rogues and scoundrels. They do not know what an open letter is. They only understand 50,000 people in white coats rallying in front of their building…."

Liviu has some excellent points to make: "I agree with this letter and think that the patient of this defective system sees in us only somone receiving spaga and unprofessional since the media say the same thing. They are showing negative cases so they excuse the true culprits, ie. the politicians. The health system is a shambles. We work in operating theatres with 30-40 year old equipment and anaesthesia equipment that is 50 years old, a surgeon who saves lives daily is paid 6 ron an hour less than a cleaning woman. This is the bare truth. I do not work in the medical system but I believe that these people are angels who give life. Politicians don’t see it and when they are sick they go abroad for treatment. Where should the ordinary man go to be treated? Medicine is not practised in political hallways and if you want to save lives, ‘jos parafa’ (put down your seals) because you are treated like the dregs of society while politicians don’t know or think how else to steal from this country (they lie before elections and then when up there forget about the average Joe Bloggs)."

Lucretia cries:"Let’s be united…Parafa jos! We are behind you!" which is pretty much the general feeling in all these comments that follow the open letter to the government. The overall motto is we shall be united, we shall not back down, all of us together. Jos parafa!

Maria makes a very good suggestion, though it is unlikely to ever be heard, more's the pity: "I would like no parliamentarian to be permitted treatment abroad. He should first resign and then he may be allowed to go elsewhere." Excellent idea.

The comments are endless, all so very sad, so indignant. Mariana Moldoveanu writes, "I’m a lab assistant, but I left 2 years ago and know the realisty in Romanian hospitals. I totally agree with what the doctors say. The situation is totally out of control – and not just the doctors who cannot exist without assistants and auxiliaries. Its not talent and intelligence that’s lacking, but the means with which to practise medicine today."

Someone who writes simply as 'A Doctor' says, "there’s no other option but to leave the country. I want to draw your attention to a poor medical assistant who remains in prison because she ‘lied’ and because she was in the restroom during her shift." He is the only one who mentions Florentina Carstea in all this and I have to damit I was profoundly saddened that she was not given a paragraph in the above open letter. It is the tragedy at Giulesti Maternity that has catalysed this rightful uprising - and it is Florentina who is carrying the can and the blame for everything wrong within the system.

N.V. adds his thoughts: "I am one of the doctors that hasn’t (yet) left. I haven’t left because what I do, I do with love. I fear and am embarrassed to schedule patients for surgery and then present them with a list of ‘what they have to buy’. We should have done this a long time ago…. We should be more proactive."

Ion Prodan agrees and says, "I urge everyone to unite for the reform of the medical system. Jos parafa! Jos parafa!"

Beniamin Stamate is one of the many who admit they are ashamed to be part of the medical profession and also is looking for a job abroad: "I totally agree," he writes, "but since I don’t see any change I will also leave for a destination where I can practise my profession with decency. I am ashamed to admit I’m a doctor."

Anna Maria says: "don't you see, our best option is to leave the country? (the worst ones remain)," which upsets Alexandru Stanus-Ghib who replies: "Miss Ana Maria, it doesn’t mean if you stay you’re a bad doctor and if you’re good you leave. It means you have chosen. I have chosen to stay in my country as I want to live and work here. I will leave only when I don’t think I can continue to survive and not because with the money we are making you can only pay the daily expenses, the phone and food…and I also believe we’ll get there faster (survival point) than we imagine." What he means is that he will stay until he can no longer survive and only then will be leave Roumania to find work abroad. A very sad situation - to remain until you have no way of surviving financially...

Corina Kadar has worked in the profession for 30 years and loves it but she’s tired of her daily humiliations from 1990 on: "For me, it is the most beautiful profession on earth and I will do it as long as I am healthy. But we should tell the politicians that without good health, there is nothing not even their callous policies. Stop this genocide!"

Dr Daniela Simion retorts: "I agree and we who work daily in hospitals with the shortages know the situation and the compromises. Still we are treating our patients the best we can. I refuse to shut up. I consider myself guilty of the genocide generated by incapable politicians by an president insensitive to the pain of his own people. Why should I leave my country? Why should I leave my parents, my home, my relatives and my land? The politicians should go for it is they who have transformed the country into one of ‘mana a doua’."

It was Basescu himself who declared that Roumania was a second-hand country a little under two weeks ago, causing a scandal – a country of jerks who don’t deserve any better, basically. How can a president make such a statement??

It is worse than a tragedy, worse than the most profound bereavement one can imagine to be privy to a country dying whilst the people look on helplessly, so conditioned to lower their heads so the swords won't decapitate them... With a president who says such things, a PM who doesn't even care enough, a health minister who is too green and arrogant to admit blunder after blunder and a mayor of such crooked proportions one can only stand open-mouthed in astonishment...well, I want to see people out there demonstrating. I want to hear them yelling for resignations and change, for the improvements they so merit. I want to hear it all the way here in Paris and be proud, so proud of the country of my heart and the people that make it the beautiful country it is - it IS - and who believe it is worth fighting for. No, I'm not inciting a revolution should anyone accuse me of thus, but I am calling for a reaction, I am calling for indignance and I am calling for the strength to say 'no more!!'. It has gone on for the last two decades and it cannot continue...Roumania is now a part of the EU and has to stop relying on handouts and blaming everyone else for its problems. The government is a truly lamentable stench of rotten meat. As Corina says above, stop the genocide!

JOS PARAFA!

My thanks always to Florina.

Posté par Sarah in Romania à 18:27 - Commentaires [6] - Rétroliens [0] - Permalien [#]

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Giulesti Maternity reopens today

Giulesti Maternity Hospital will officially reopen today after 'renovation' following the fire on 16th August, says Nine O'Clock... however, the Mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu said "only the Intensive Care Unit for premature newborns - which has been renovated - has received smoke detectors and video cameras. The other wards do not need such equipment, because they are located so that patients themselves keep them under constant surveillance." Oh, I see: so the ITU is the only unit with machines and oxygen tanks? That's a strange set-up for a hospital if you ask me... And honestly, is it the job of the patients to keep their eyes out for dodgy wiring, fire hazards and smoke? I think not since they are rather too busy being ill and worrying about how best to obtain their medication, bandages etc in a hospital that doesn't have either. He added, "we must forget the tragedy and make sure it won’t happen again." Mr Oprescu, if steps are not taken to ensure that every part of the hospital is equipped with fire alarms, smoke detectors and extinguishers, then I'm afraid to say that it will indeed happen again. Incidentally, fire extinguishers weren't actually mentioned. Are there any? Anywhere? In any of the 21 hospitals under the municipality's jurisdiction?

Nine O'Clock reports, 'According to the acting manager of the hospital, Dr. Victoria Nicolau, the Intensive Care Unit also received additional staff. “We’ll have two nurses on shift now,” she said, quoted by Realitatea.net.' That's still not enough, as she would see if she read the staff contracts. there should be at least four. Thus, nothing much has changed. The horrifying deaths of six babies and the severe injuring of five others hasn't made much of a difference in the eyes of this ex-doctor now politician nor the management who should know better than to issue such absurd statements to the press.

I was astounded to see that Bogdan Marinescu also threw in his grain of salt. No mention of the tragedy, no mention of consciousness as to his own part...in fact, his words don't show any kind of anything at all. It is as if nothing had happened. His words are spoken as if he is still the director of Giulesti even though the article names him as 'the former head'. This is the first peep we've heard out of him since the tragedy occurred and he doesn't even mention it: 'The former head of the Intensive Care Unit of Giulesti Maternity Hospital, Bogdan Mari­nescu, said the unit had already received an infra-red phototherapy device with six incubators, and more equipment is on its way. “The Intensive Care has eight units and, after we spoke to the mayor, it will receive six more units for the intensive care of babies who no longer need incubation, and of premature newborns,” the doctor explained. He added that the hospital had already received a donation of two incubators and the Bucharest Municipality will further provide whatever equipment will be needed. Marinescu assured that the Unit will be fully equipped when the hospital reopens. “I think we’ll be alright; perhaps we won’t admit (babies) from all over the country, as we were doing in the past, but we’ll do our best; as our colleagues from other maternity wards understood they must take care of some of our patients, I find it normal for us to do the same thing now,” Dr. Marinescu emphasised.' The very fact that he is still called 'doctor' makes me feel rather queazy...it is a label of respect, something that this man does not deserve by any stretches of the imagination.

Women will certainly be thinking twice before giving birth in Giulesti from now on. I would like to know how Marinescu's private clinic near the Soseaua is doing and when this man is likely to be placed under preventive arrest for his massive portion of guilt in the tragedy at Giulesti. He should not be allowed to practise until this is done. Had he publically announced, 'hey, everyone, my contract ended last year and I was standing in as a favour,' then maybe I could find it in my heart somewhere to be a little less acidic, but he has said nothing and meanwhile, Florentina Carstea remains behind bars. We all know what the situation is. The system is rotten to the core. No need to draw a diagram. For shame.

Video HERE from Antena 3

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