The flu virus and the respiratory infections took control of Moldova, especially of the municipality of Chisinau. The chief health officer of Chisinau Boris Gîlca said the municipal hospitals are packed, while the flu vaccine doses were used up. He accused the Ministry of Health of defective communication about the epidemiological situation in the country, saying that a campaign to promote flu vaccination should have been started last October, IPN reports.
The head of the General Medical and Social Assistance Division of Chisinau Boris Gîlca said the viral respiratory infections and the flu exert enormous pressure on the municipal hospital system. The situation can worsen together with the return of children to school after the vacation.
“After we didn’t have cases of flu in the Republic of Moldova during two years, this year we have a lot of cases of flu. We have over 1,000 cases of flu nationwide. The highest number of cases of flu and respiratory infections was reported in the municipality of Chisinau. In December, we saw very big pressure on the children’s hospitals due to the large number of children admitted with respiratory infections. We had to put additional beds in spaces that we freed. This period passed as the children went on vacation. But now the children returned and this week will be decisive. We can witness a new rise in the number of cases of viral respiratory infections. The municipal hospitals are now fully supplied with the necessary medicines,” Boris Gîlca stated in the talk show “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei TV channel.
The chief health officer of Chisinau noted that even if the number of cases of flu that were confirmed by lab tests exceeds 1,000, the real number of infections is much larger. The number of flu vaccines allocated to the municipality if Chisinau is yet much lower than the number of citizens who ask for a vaccine. The Ministry of Health should have launched a broad campaign to inform about flu vaccination last October
“In Chisinau, we received almost 48,000 flu vaccine doses and they were used up. The people still ask for vaccines, but we do not have them. The Chisinau Public Health Center promised to replenish our supplies of flu vaccine, but by taking doses from other territories and it can this way put other regions of the country in a difficult epidemiological situation. We asked for another 500 vaccine doses for Chisinau, but these doses will be used up during two-three days,” stated Boris Gîlca.
According to the National Public Health Agency, 190 cases of seasonal influenza were recorded in Moldova during January 09-15 alone and 141 cases of these were logged in the municipality of Chisinau. Of all the persons infected with seasonal flu, 113 were hospitalized.
