Information about the madhouse Poiana Mare (Romania) where 17 patients have died so far in 2004

To move the patients there is a rough planning, made by Romanian psychiatrists:

2004 Updated short project-description belonging to the letter of intent MOH dd 01.04.1999

Projectleaders of this project are Prof T. Udristoiu (Craiova) and Mr. H. Luth

The project starts in 2004, if there are funds available, and will be totally finished in 2006 (2 years). We will keep sponsors informed by our website www.poianamare.org

Help us to go into hell and save the patients of Poiana Mare.

Our bank connections for donations:
ING Bank Ermelo
The Netherlands
Accountnumber 66.97.29.116
Account owner: Harm Luth (Please quote: “concerning Poiana Mare Foundation”)
IBAN: NL88 ING B 0669729116
BIC: ING BNL 2A
If you transfer a donation or send a cheque, please quote: “concerning Poiana Mare Foundation.” If you decide to send an international money order, please make it payable to Harm Luth in € and send it to Poiana Mare Foundation in Harderwijk:

Contact: Poiana Mare Foundation
Harm Luth (chairman)
Schippersmeen 55
NL-3844 CL Harderwijk
The Netherlands

Gazeta de Sud (Craiova, Romania – www.gds.ro), February 17, 2004

In the Hospital Poiana Mare

Over 100 patients had their heads shaved and were isolated

Doctors and nurses preferred to avoid the patients with lice than treat them — 70 million lei, fines for negligence

In the Psychiatric Hospital Poiana Mare there is old dispute between the employees and the management of the institution. They accused each other, but no one has the courage to speak about what really happened beyond the hospital gates.

Recently our office received a letter saying, among others: “The patients are full of lice, die like flies, of hunger, cold and tuberculosis. The inspections from the sanitary police, Insurance House, Health Direction are announced in due time so that the director would have the time to put her subordinates to work and spray the patients with substances against lice. The collection for bribing the inspection teams is compulsory, and the employees who oppose this collection are dismissed”. “Everyone knows that in Poiana Mare the patients are full of lice, that they are kept miserable and cold. Every time an inspection team comes, we are asked for 50.000 – 100.000 lei each or maybe more so they can lie out meals or bribe the inspectors from the Sanitary Police or from the Health Ministry. People who are favoured by the director come up with 500.000 lei or one million lei. We had recently more inspection teams but they didn’t take any measures”, says an employee of the hospital, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of losing her job.

Following our checking done there, what the employees said wasn’t exactly what we found.

Tens of millions lei in fines for negligence

Following the complaints of the employees to the Prefecture Dolj and to the Health Ministry, the State Sanitary Inspection (ISS) Dolj made an inspection in the Hospital Poiana Mare. The inspectors found lice in pavilion 5 and over 100 patients with lice. Because she didn’t announce and didn’t take the necessary measures in such situations, the director of the institution, dr. Florina Pesa, was sanctioned with 30 million lei, doctors and nurses Simona Ruinea, Gheorghe Ionete, Dorina, Daniela Mitroaica, Maria Dan, Andrei Mariu, Irina Risnita, Claudia Daruta received 5 million lei fine each, and other 21 employees received warnings. The patients with lice were shaved, treated and isolated from the rest of the patients, and the bed linen and mattresses were replaced. The inspectors also noticed that the cleaning is not done often in the hospital and that disinfectants are not used. After the inspection, there were people who filed complaints at the Health Ministry, accusing the inspectors from ISS that the inspections are too often.

“On one side, we are accused of taking bribes so that we don’t do our inspections, and on the other side, that we harass them with so many inspections. Who can understand anything?” asks Dolores Tatar, executive deputy manager in the Health Direction.

The employees paid the fines from their own pocket

Dr. Florina Pesa admits that the patients had lice due to the negligence of the employees, who didn’t make disinfections and that there are many problems in the hospital: “We inherited pavilion V, with lice and everything, from the TB section and even now we don’t have a doctor there. That is why no one took interest in the patients there. Unfortunately, I can’t take any measure for they accuse me that I have something against those I make reproaches to “.

Even if they didn’t like being sanctioned, the doctors and nurses paid the fines from their own pockets.

Following the inspections from the ISS and the Health Ministry, the activity in the hospital improved. “The hired personnel were impelled. Lately they were slow. Now they came willingly to work on Saturdays and Sunday and did the work they neglected lately “, said Florina Pesa.

70 mattresses were bought in pavilion V and a heater was assembled for hot water for that patients can wash whenever it’s needed.

Editie Speciala de Oltenia (Craiova, Romania – www.editie.ro), 25.02.2004

LICE COVERED WITH CLEAN SHEETS

Health Minister, Ovidiu Branzan, visited yesterday the Neuropsychiatric Hospital Poiana Mare to verify the living conditions of the patients and to see if the information published in the local and national press confirmed

Yesterday, around 12 o’clock, the Minister Ovidiu Branzan showed up at the Prefecture Dolj, together with a few counsellors from the Ministry. Together with the Dolj prefect, Ion Calin, the delegation went to the hospital in Poiana Mare. The Minister wanted to visit all the sections to see himself that all the details in the press were true. Only that everything was changed in the last two weeks. In the patient’s rooms the sheets were cleaned and ironed, the bathrooms were clean, but although the sheets had been changed, the lice didn’t disappear. “They asked us three days ago to wash all the sheets and to clean very well for the minister’s visit. Even if the beds look different now, the lice didn’t disappear. They promised to bring new mattresses, but they didn’t have time, for the minister came in a hurry,” declared Irina F. nurse in pavilion 5. The administrator Cornel Stanica also confirmed the presence of lice. The minister seemed interested to find out the desires of the patients, who said, with tears in their eyes, that they receive very little food and that they can’t live in the cold rooms. Branzan listened to them, pat them on the shoulder and quickly came out of the rooms. “Mr. Deputy, I know that you will solve our problems. Ask them why they give us only two spoons of soup?” complained one of the patients. The minister’s answer was prompt: “Stop complaining, you look quite well. I’m not so fat either”. After the visit made in all the pavilions, the minister held a press conference, where he insisted that all the rumours in the newspapers and TV were not confirmed. “There are some problems, but not so serious. Last year, in the same period, there were more dead people than now. The patients died of old age and chronic diseases, not of hunger and cold as it was said. Together with Mr. Prefect Calin we’ll think how it would be better for the patients and I’ll take care that the buildings will be refurbished,” said the minister. The minister dismissed the director of the Direction for Public Health Dolj, Constantin Ecobici, for lack of involvement in solving the problems of the patients in Poiana Mare. In his place, the minister named doctor Eugen Magla, municipal counsellor from the government party.

The minister also named yesterday for the position of director of the Neuropsychiatric Hospital Poiana Mare Mr. Viorel Oprescu, after dismissing two weeks ago the director Florina Pesa for bad administration of the institution’s funds. Until yesterday, Viorel Oprescu was the director of the Agriculture Bank in Poiana Mare, and the Health Minister thinks that the hospital needs an accountant, Oprescu being the right person for it. “I reached this decision a little time ago with Mr. Prefect Ion Calin and the Mayor in Poiana Mare, Petre Simion. The prefect recommended him and I think he is very good’ said the minister. Most of the hospital’s employees were amazed when they heard who would be their boss from now on. Some of the employees say that the mayor Petre Simion, who had been fighting for the last two years to topple Florina Pesa, provoked the last week’s scandal and he finally succeeded. He wanted Viorel Oprescu as head of this institution at any costs, because he is his best friend and had made shocking declarations to the local and national press, which he didn’t admit yesterday in front of the minister. “It’s true that the mayor is my best friend. He contacted me three days ago and asked me if I want to be the director. I told him to let me think about it and that I’ll announce him when I reach a decision. I don’t know if I am good for this position, because I have no connection to health, but if Mr. Mayor wants me to be the director…” declared the newly appointed director. The employees also declared that they knew about the minister’s visit, but they heard that he was coming to close down the hospital, so they worked and cleaned up everything so that Branzan would find any problems.

Amnesty International comments on the situation from the hospital in Poiana Mare

Amnesty International drew attention on the situation existing in the Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Poiana Mare, Dolj, where 17 patients died from the beginning of this year due to malnutrition and hypothermia. In a communicate on the British site of the organisation (www.amnesty.org.uk), the Romanian authorities are asked to make an urgent intervention for supply the hospital with enough food, heating fuel and necessary medicines. An enquiry lead by a Romanian non-governmental organisation, in co-operation with Amnesty International, showed that the patients are poorly nourished, poorly dressed, full of lice and forced to sleep in cold rooms. In the communicate published on the Amnesty International site, the hospital in Poiana Mare is described as one of the extermination camps for the dissidents under the communist regime. After 1989, the hospital became a symbol of the deplorable situation in the psychiatric hospital all over Romania.

CONFLICT (weekly national magazine edited by the Journalists Association – http://conflict.i8.com), NO. 82, Feb. 2004

100.000 EURO, THE STAKE FOR THE SOCIAL SECTION IN POIANA MARE

Far from being over, the scandal involving the Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Poiana Mare brought out the serious deficiencies from this institution co-ordinated by the Health Ministry. Two years ago Conflict was publishing the same things that make headlines now, but because at that time the director of the hospital had the support of the local organisation of the Social Democrat Party, and through Mayor Petre Simion no one did anything. Maybe things would have remained the same even after this scandal if the director Florina Pesa hadn’t lost the mayor’s support and senator’s Adrian Paunescu. Why did Mayor Petre Simion raised his hands of his protégée now, few people know it. In the following lines, we try to show what’s behind the dismissal of Florina Pesa, mentioning that this measure against her is right, but much too late.

Last year, based on the Government Decision no. 412/02.04. 2003, the mayor of Poiana Mare, Petre Simion, decided to transform part of the Hospital in Poiana Mare in a social section, that would receive old people who had no support from their families or whose diseases needed permanent medical supervision. So he thought that this section should have 74 beds and 50 employees. Experienced in administrative business, Simion knew that there would be enough money to spend by creating this section. Starting from this, the mayor proposed his idea in the Local Council. Without enough information and carried away, the counsellor gladly voted for the project. With the Local Council’s and supported by the Party, Petre Simion knocked on the right doors in Bucharest and returned with a financing contract no. 90/24.11.2003, for 100.000 Euro, to be spent in the social section in the Hospital in Poiana Mare, with gas for cooking and heating central. The money came at the right time, as the new year was an election year, but to start spending them Simion needed the approval of the Labour and Social Protection Ministry and of the Health Ministry.

The Health Ministry opposed the project

The two institutions had to give their approvals regarding the opportunity of such a section in Poiana Mare. To the surprise of the mayor, while the Labour Ministry gave its approval, the Health Ministry said no. Naturally, the first suspicion of sabotaging the project went to the director of the hospital, Florina Pesa, leading to the media circus that resulted in her dismissal. The reasons didn’t need to be invented, they certainly existed. It was enough if the party took their hands off her. Why she has not been dismissed two years ago, when the situation was at least as serious as it is now, it’s not difficult to say. At that time, as many people say, Petre Simion put a good word for Florina Pesa at the district party organisation, which meant the forgiving of all sins and perpetuating the serious problems from the Hospital in Poiana Mare.

“Everything goes around 100.000 Euro”

“The section is welcomed, which was said by the Health Direction Dolj and the Labour Ministry. I didn’t understand and I don’t understand why the Health Ministry opposed to it, especially as there is a Decision of the Government through which Poiana Mare is nominated as a location for such a section. Don’t ask me now because I don’t know exactly what the document is, but I know it exists. The hospital is very good for the local community. Unfortunately, we have the 100.000 in the accounts and we can’t start the project” declared the Mayor Petre Simion. What he doesn’t say is that the new section would take from the local budget 7-8 billion lei per year, when the total budget is of 24 billion. Vice-mayor Gheorghe Ticu says that maintaining this section would mean the economical paralysis of the community: “At first, convinced by the Mayor, the counsellors approved this project. Only afterwards we found out what would be the price our community has to pay and we realised that the project is not achievable for us. With those money we could do other things, much more urgent than this. But the 100.000 Euro impressed the mayor, as you know how this money is spent. Still I believe it’s crazy to spend 7-8 billion per year for the old people of other districts”.

The local counsellor Emil Padureanu was one of the two counsellors to oppose the mayor’s project from the beginning. “This is crazy. Are we so rich to afford to spend billions every year for this whim of the mayor? I think not and any good person of this community will say the same thing. But everything evolves around this hundred thousand Euro. After all it’s an election year….”

Gazeta de Sud (Craiova, Romania – www.gds.ro), February 26, 2004

Following the Minister’s visit to Poiana Mare,

THE DIRECTOR OF THE HEALTH DIRECTION DOLJ, CONSTANTIN ECOBICI, DISMISSED

The visit of the Health Minister, Ovidiu Branzan, in Dolj, provoked by the press scandal referring to the disastrous situation existing in the Psychiatric Hospital Poiana Mare, resulted in the dismissal of the director of the Health Direction Dolj, dr. Constantin Ecobici, and his replacing with dr. Eugen Magla, presently director of the CFR (Romanian Railways) Hospital. According to a press communicate from the Health Ministry, Ecobici was reproached the administrative problems and poor management of the hospital, that were repeatedly noted by the ministry’s inspections.

The Health Minister was not satisfied that the local health authorities could not solve a situation like the one in Poiana Mare.

“It doesn’t seem normal that the Health Minister is needed to solve problems that could be dealt with locally. This is why, after consulting with Mr. Ion Calin, the prefect of Dolj, we decided to replace Dr. Constantin Ecobici with Dr. Eugen Magla,” said Ovidiu Branzan.

The Health Minister believes that poverty can be efficiently administered

A team of specialists, headed by the Health Minister, came especially to Poiana Mare to see if the patients in the hospital are dying of hunger and cold. 23 patients died in the last two months, and the pediculosis is hard to eradicate. Following his visit, the minister concluded that in Poiana Mare is better than in other health institutions in the country and that, it’s true; people die in hospitals as well.

The rooms in the Hospital Poiana Mare were shining yesterday morning. New bed linen replaced the old one, the patients didn’t have the dirty old clothes they usually wear, and the halls were washed and disinfected. Everyone knew the Minister was coming so none of the patients dared to throw food or stain the new sheets, as they usually do.

Together with a team of specialists, Ovidiu Branzan, the Health Minister, visited almost all the rooms. Satisfied that everything he saw was “better than in many hospitals in Bucharest”; the Minister looked nice for the press, got in his car and left for Bucharest. “Things are not as bad as it was said, and the small problems could be solved locally. I don’t know why I had to come,” said the minister.

The patients in Poiana Mare eat for 25.000 lei per day

The inhuman conditions for the patients in Poiana Mare are no news for the Minister. In December 2003, in January and February 2004, control teams from the Ministry came to the hospital and noted the same problems: pediculosis, poorly nourished patients and cold rooms. “When I knew about the problems here, you had no idea what was going on,” said, proud of his knowledge, Ovidiu Branzan.

Although he knew that there is a problem in Poiana Mare, the Minister didn’t do anything until the press draws the attention. And to demonstrate his involvement, Ovidiu Branzan dismissed Florentina Pesa, the director of the hospital, accusing her of deficient management.

The food allowance for a patient is 54.000 lei per day, but in the last years, the meals include only tea, margarine, cabbage soup and rice, which don’t rise up to more than 25.000 lei/day. “We’re starving, Mr. Minister, give us bread!” shouted the patients to the minister. Full of humour, the Minister replied: “We’ll give you, just don’t get too fat afterwards!” The hospital’s cooking staff said that they hadn’t cooked meat for the patients since January 7th 2004: “We give them only tea and jam and margarine, rice, cabbage and sometimes beans. For holidays they had meat and eggs”.

In 2003, Poiana Mare Hospital needed 68 billion lei, but received only 41 billion lei. Out of these, only 16 were given for medicine, food and other expenses. For food the necessary amount was of 9 billion, but only 5,8 billion were received; for heat 10 billion were needed, only three were given; and for medicine only 1,8 billion were spent, instead of four.

The Health Minister is convinced that only bad administration of the few funds is to blame, that is why he appointed a former bank director, Viorel Oprescu.