Health Ministry considers repurposing Hospital no.4 to look after Chisinau mumps patients

The Ministry of Health is to decide today whether to temporarily repurpose the Hospital no.4 to take care of mumps patients from Chisinau, given that all the specialised wards in the hospitals for infectious diseases and several other units at various medical establishments have already run out of beds. Silvia Babara, doctor coordinator at the Chisinau Emergency Service, told Info-Prim Neo that because of the shortage of beds, doctors see themselves compelled to move patients from hospital to hospital. 39 mumps infected persons, mostly in the age group 15-24, were hospitalised on Thursday alone. At the same time, the number of viral diseases has soared too. Previously, virus-infected persons would consult a policlinic physician in such cases, but now they choose to call an ambulance instead. On the top of that, persons are often found lying in the street dead drunk. These are carried on ambulances from hospital to hospital, where they are often refused treatment. Without suffering from a particular illness, they nevertheless occupy the beds intended for the persons who actually require inpatient care. Given these circumstances, ambulances are often late in response to emergency calls, says Dr. Babara. On Thursday alone, the Emergency Service received 890 calls, which is about twice the number recorded daily one year ago. Ambulances responded to 162 cases of acute viral diseases, of which 122 in children, 47 cases of injuries, and 10 brain strokes.