Romanians reconfirmed their heavy eating and drinking habits for this Christmas as well, but with less negative effects as compared to emergency services’ records for the previous years. In Bucharest and Ilfov County from Friday evening to Wednesday morning, 4,907 calls were made to hospital services, 2,837 of which turned out to be emergencies. Approximately 700 people were suffering digestive pain, according to statistics issued by the Bucharest Ilfov Ambulance Service (SABI).

“I would like to mention that these cases range within the normal limits. 700 calls on account of digestive distress are nothing compared to the population of the capital city and of Ilfov county,” stated Alis Grasu, SABI Manager. “Of course, the winter holidays are not over yet. We hope people will choose to enjoy them wisely,”said the SABI Manager.

Close to 1,400 S.O.S calls over the past 24 hours secure a strong, but not exceptional place for the 2012 Christmas in the holiday trouble charts. Most issues requiring emergency medical attention were various forms of indigestion (200 cases). During the same interval, there were 30 cases of bone fractures, sprains and dislocations, 20 other cases of trauma as well as 16 comas, according to Alis Grasu. On the merrier side of things, 12 newborn babies saw the light of day on the second day of Christmas.

SMURD emergency rescuers were also surprised by a relatively quiet Christmas. “The number of cases in which SMURD emergency rescuers were called in and people were admitted to the Floreasca hospital unit was lower than the average of a regular day,” stated Bogdan Oprita, MD, SMURD Bucharest Coordinator. “SMURD was called in approximately 160 times per day and there were close to 300 people who came into the Floreasca Emergency Room. Compare this to the 400 patients who come in on a regular day on the average”.

Most cases dealt with head injuries suffered by heavy drinkers and heart attacks. Most of those who fell down in the street because they had one glass more than they should have actually refused to be hospitalized, according to doctor Oprita.

Ioana Jelea, ioana.jelea@romania-insider.com