Toddler struggles in the unbearable heat at the children's hospital in Bucharest
In the burns ward of a major hospital in Bucharest, a toddler was found sleeping on the linoleum floor because of the unbearable heat.
In the first week of July, when temperatures in Bucharest had reached over 35 degrees Celsius, a family admitted their little boy, not yet 3 years old, to the Grigore Alexandrescu Emergency Hospital for Children in Bucharest. The child needed treatment involving the skin on one hand and spent a total of four days in the hospital.
Libertatea contacted the hospital for an explanation after a member of the medical staff saw the boy sleeping on the floor, took photos, and posted them online.
The Grigore Alexandrescu Emergency Hospital for Children, which is located in Bucharest, near Victory Square, and the Romanian Government headquarters, is the biggest pediatric hospital in the country. It was built in 2006, and thus is a newer construction than many Romanian hospitals. However, it lacks a centralized air-conditioning system, meaning that during the summer, patients are reduced to sizzling in the overheated wards.
"How can you make a building in 2006 without a centralized air-conditioning system? Even if money starts falling from the sky, the current people who are in charge of healthcare in Romania will not change anything," said one of the hospital's doctors to Libertatea, on condition of anonymity.
"No air conditioning, no blinds. Sometimes, when I went into the ward to see the boy, I would find him sleeping on the floor. Because of the unbearable heat in the room, the child would get out of bed and instinctively go and lie down on the cold floor," he added.
The source said that only the hallways are air-conditioned and that the only way of cooling down the wards is to open the door, which is always a risk with children seeing as they may leave the room and go wandering about.
He explained that the situation at the hospital is less than ideal, as normally patients with open wounds should be kept in wards equipped with air conditioning systems that ventilate and cool the air, as well as sterilize it.
"We have severe cases, with burns on large areas, who can't get out of bed and it's extremely, extremely hot," the doctor explained.
The publication also spoke to the manager of the Grigore Alexandrescu Emergency Hospital for Children, Doctor Alexandru Ulici, who dismissed the severity of the situation and said that the temperature in the wards is optimal for patients, due to indirect cooling from the air conditioning in the hallways.
When pressed, the hospital manager said that "It's the maximum comfort a 2006 building can offer," and that "In Romania, it's hot in summer. Nobody is perfect".
Asked about the installation of a centralized air conditioning system that would also sterilize the air, Dr. Alexandru Ulici said it isn’t possible because of space considerations. According to him, if such a system were to be installed in the 2006 building 30% of the floor space would be lost.
He stated that a new hospital wing that will be equipped with such a system is in the works, and is meant to house a new burns ward, the neonatology unit, and the operating theatre.
However, he said that the new building "Will not be ready any time soon. The project alone took four years."
(Photo source: Chernetskaya/ Dreamstime)
