The death of the girl aged 2 years and four months, who passed away on January 20 at the Municipal Clinical Hospital for Children No.1, was inevitable. This is the final conclusion of the Health Ministry’s commission that investigated the case, Info-Prim Neo reports. The girl was hospitalised on January 18 in the evening. She died three days afterwards after suffering a viral-like illness. The parents lodged a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office of Buiucani district, accusing the medical personnel of negligence. The mother says that after the little girl had two convulsions, she called the doctors in despair, but no one came. On January 20, the child was transferred to the reanimation section, where she died. A ministerial commission investigated the case. At a news conference on February 20, the head of the Chisinau Municipal Council’s Health Division Mihai Moldovanu announced that the little girl called Mirela Graur suffered an acute viral respiratory infection complicated by the Reye syndrome. According to Mihai Moldovanu, the disease developed against a background of viral chronic hepatitis C, states of acquired immunodeficiency, metabolic disorders that in association with the preparations with hepatotoxic effects inevitably caused the death of the child. Thus, the commission’s conclusion regarding the tanatogenesis of the disease coincides with the coroners’ conclusion formulated earlier. Mihai Moldovanu says that the medical personnel are not to blame for the death of the child. Yet, during the investigation the commission identified certain shortcomings. The commission established that the medico-sanitary standards on child examination and treatment approved by the Ministry of Health have been not fully observed, the medical staff on guard supervised the child insufficiently and the medical assistant on guard administered treatment to the child without consulting the doctor on duty. The child was weighting less than normal and should have been subjected to adequate recuperation. The commission pointed also to the inappropriate organisation of the medial activity during the night and on the weekend. A meeting will be held at the hospital on February 22 to discuss all the circumstances of the death. Administrative actions again the personnel will be taken afterwards, Moldovanu said, stressing yet that the final measures that will be taken will depend on the results of the criminal investigation. Informed about the results of the investigation, the girl’s parents said they know nothing about the Reye syndrome, which caused the death of their child as the doctors said. Veaceslav and Ludmila Graur maintain that the doctors are to blame for their kid’s death because they should have properly supervised the girl if they knew what illnesses the child was suffering from. If they had taken the girl to the intensive care section earlier, she would have been alive now, says the mother. The parents are waiting for the results of the criminal investigation and say they will demand in court that the medical assistant be sentenced to imprisonment. The Reye syndrome is a potentially fatal disease that causes numerous detrimental effects to many organs, especially the brain and liver. It is associated with aspirin consumption by children with viral diseases such as chicken pox. According to the main specialist in paediatric morfopathology of the Health Ministry and member of the commission, university lecturer Ion Fuior, it is very difficult to diagnose this molecular illness. It is passed hereditarily and this can explain the death of another two children in this family, Ion Fuior said, stressing that there are no resources in Moldova at present to treat this disease. Since he has worked as senior specialist from 1975, this is the 17th case of the Reye syndrome reported in Moldova.