Health Minister Alexandru Rafila says that rehabilitating hospitals is possible even if they are located in old buildings, provided it is done correctly, as bacteria do not penetrate the walls, and problems arise with sanitary installations, which usually contain these bacteria. microorganisms, and the fact that the sanitary units of Romania do not have single-bed rest rooms, where the risk of infection is reduced.

“I am a microbiologist, (…) I really speak with knowledge of the matter. I’ve heard all kinds of things about bacteria going into a wall up to five centimeters deep, others up to ten centimeters deep, all kinds of things that have nothing to do with reality. Bacteria do not penetrate walls. If you do the right rehabilitation, including removing, say, a layer of masonry or plaster and put in materials that are solid and that mostly have solutions (…) bactericides, it’s ideal. It doesn’t matter that it’s an old building,” Rafila told Digi 24 on Saturday.

He clarified that in Romania there are no rest rooms with one bed, and this significantly reduces the risk of infection.

“However, what causes us problems is not only related to the age of the building. The problem of danger lies in the area of ​​sanitary facilities, which have two disadvantages. They are very old, and plumbing fixtures are a place where bacteria reside, and they are very difficult to kill because they are very difficult to approach in terms of a disinfectant, for example. And there it is really necessary to change the sanitary installations, they need to be completely changed. That’s the problem The second problem is that we don’t have single bed lounges. One of the statistics published by the European Center for Disease Control concerns single-bed rooms or single-bed rooms in intensive care units. These rooms, which allow for individual care, significantly reduce the risk of infections,” the minister added.

Alexandru Rafila also said that infections in hospitals will not disappear, but the percentage is not necessarily important.

“There are two important things, where the infection is and who is causing the infection. One is to have, say, a wound infection after surgery that heals in a few days, and the other is an invasive infection — septicemia. or ventilator-associated pneumonia, which kills the patient because it is produced by bacteria against which we have no therapeutic arsenal,” explained Rafila.

He emphasized hygiene, including in the case of doctors, noting that the main carrier of germs in the medical field is the hand.

“There are two problems here. This is a problem of education and a problem of professional education. If we have the habit of always washing our hands before engaging in an activity (…), then we will also do it. in our professional life,” said Alexandrou Rafila.

When asked whether a patient in a hospital bed should attract the attention of a doctor or nurse with jewelry, the Minister of Health noted that such a gesture would be correct.

“I think you can draw his attention, and rightly so, because such an accessory (…) can be a place where you cannot remove germs,” ​​said Rafila. News source: Agerpres