Romanian President Nicusor Dan called it: “An unacceptable drama. Zero tolerance for errors that kill children.”
Six children have died at a hospital in northeastern Romania from a bacterial infection. The health ministry has closed the unit where the children were being treated and opened an investigation, authorities said Friday.
The youngsters, aged from a few months to eight years all died in the last 10 days and had pre-existing health conditions. They were being treated at the “Sfânta Maria” Hospital in the city of Iasi where they were infected with the Serratia marcescens bacterium, a hospital superbug. One child was transferred to Bucharest and remains in intensive care .
Superbugs are a serious risk for vulnerable patients and are often spread through poor hygiene, contaminated medical equipment, or contact with infected surfaces and people.
The Intensive Care Unit where the children were admitted has been closed after other patients were also diagnosed with the same bacterium.
Romanian President Nicusor Dan on Friday called the deaths: “An unacceptable drama. Zero tolerance for errors that kill children.”
The children suffered from serious associated conditions, including acute bacterial meningitis, Edwards syndrome (Eds: a serious condition where only half live longer than a week), quadriparesis (Eds: a condition in which the patient’s four limbs suffer from muscle weakness) and epilepsy.
The first case occurred on Sept. 7 but the Intensive Care Unit remained open and admissions continued, local media reported.
The unit was finally shut on Wednesday. Nine children in total were infected according to a hospital statement.
The hospital said it had notified the regional Public Health Directorate on Sept. 15 about the outbreak.
Doctors say the infection occurs in patients with severely weakened immunity, and the deaths were children with serious pre-existing conditions.
The Iași Children’s Hospital was fully renovated, completed in 2023 under the 2014–2020 Regional Operational Program, at a cost of 138.8 million lei.
The deaths of the six children have shocked Romania, a country that is well used to medical scandals and endemic corruption in an underfunded health-care system that is plagued by inefficiencies and politicized management. Romania spends the second lowest on health in the EU after Bulgaria.
