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The Directorate of Public Health (DSP) Neamt management said, on Sunday evening, in a press release submitted to AGERPRES, that the ICU section of the Piatra-Neamt County Emergency Hospital was reconfigured on the day of the fire without seeking an opinion.
"In order to increase the capacity of the ICU section for COVID-19 positive patients the functional circuits on the second floor were modified by building a wall. Positive patients were to be treated here in two eight-bed wards. Up to that point, positive patients were being treated on the third floor. For these changes, the health unit did not seek the opinion of the Neamt Public Health Directorate. The reconfiguration of the ICU section and the relocation of positive COVID patients from the third floor to the second floor was carried out without notice on November 14, 2020. The Piatra Neamt County Emergency Hospital and any sanitary unit with beds have the obligation to request and obtain, prior to the intervention of any modification, either by structure or by functional circuits, the opinion of the County Public Health Directorates," the DSP Neamt release reads.
Prefect George Lazar told AGERPRES during the morning (of Sunday, ed. n.) that interventions were made on the ICU section without informing and requesting an opinion from DSP Neamt.
Following this statement, the hospital management stated in a press release that the ICU section has had an opinion from DSP Neamt, and the changes made to extend it were made in a different area from the one where the fire occurred.
Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said in his turn that construction work was carried out at the County Hospital in Piatra Neamt without the opinion of the Directorate of Public Health (DSP) and the State Inspection for the Control of Boilers, Pressure Containers and Lifting Facilities (ISCIR).
"At 3 o'clock in the morning [of Sunday, ed. n.] I told you that we have clear information, information that was released publicly by the hospital manager himself: construction work was carried out, there were moved patients from the ICU section, which was functional on the third floor, on the second floor, after the information we have on the morning of that day. Work has been carried out, it is clear that there was no opinion from the DSP, no ISCIR opinion, these things are known. But I repeat, there is an ongoing investigation, which is being taken over by the Prosecutor General's Office, we have asked all the specialists who are involved in such investigations to cooperate and make available their entire expertise and, also to support this investigation to proceed as quickly as possible," Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Sunday, in a press conference following a meeting at the National Center for Coordination and Leadership of the Intervention in Ciolpani.
In his turn, the president of the PSD (Social Democratic Party), Marcel Ciolacu, claimed, on Sunday evening, that there are opinions and the authorization of the DSP which demonstrate that the ICU section on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the County Hospital Neamt was operating in legality.
"Ordinary manipulation and the lie of the PNL [the National Liberal Party] must come to an end! Here are the opinions and the DSP authorization which demonstrate that the ATI section on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Neamt County Hospital was operating in legality. Orban and the prefect of Neamt must stop with the lies, out of respect for those who died there!" Marcel Ciolacu wrote on Facebook on Sunday, attaching several documents.
