Nurses will continue their activity in educational institutions

Nurses in the Chisinau schools and lyceums will continue their activity at least by June 1, 2007, even though the National Medical Insurance Company (NMIC) insists on reducing these units from the staff structure in educational institutions. This promise was made by the new head of the Health Municipal Direction, Iurie Bucinschi, at the City Hall operative session on Monday, February 5. Head of the Municipal Direction of Education, Youth and Sports (DEYS) Tatiana Nagnibeda told Info-Prim Neo that the problem of school nurses re-appeared together with the danger of a flu epidemics occurrence and with the need for institutions to face this situation. According to the quoted source, by the end of the academic year NMIC insisted on firing the medical assistants in pre-university institutions, explaining their decision with the fact that currently, a double work is being performed in terms of medical services provided in a certain territory, since the same number of people are served by two nurses – within a particular territory and in the educational institution set up in the same territory. Thus, NMIC claims that it is forced to double pay the salary for these nurses. This problem has been discussed at the level of prim-minister, and it has been decided to apply a moratorium on this decision, but shortly after, there were restarted the discussions about reducing the nurses’ units especially from schools, states the quoted source. “We cannot exist without medical assistants, especially during the times of epidemics. Municipal councillors even decided that the units of medical assistants should be included in the staff structure of institutions, leaving only the professional development of these as a responsibility of the Ministry of Health”, said Nagnibeda. Referring to the preparation of the institutions to avoid children from catching colds, flues or severe viroses, the head of DEYS has mentioned that currently, strict evidence is being carried out on children who present colds, allowing them to restrict their access to school classes or pre-school institutions. Children monitoring is done daily during the current week. In the meanwhile, institutions will make use of a new disinfection solution, more efficient than chlorine is. It is the local product Efect, easy to utilise, destroying more germs and without a drilling smell. Currently, 10 pre-university institutions in the Chisinau municipality, in other words 2-3 per sector, do not have medical staff.