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In medical emergencies, don’t count on help from the university

Cristina Pelerini, Iulia Roşca

What happens to students who fall ill at night or during weekends? Well, they can forget about their student right to free medical care and go to the hospital like any other person and pay for everything.

The surgery of the University of Bucharest, located in the campus of The Faculty of Law, is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to the schedule posted on the door. A staff member said doctors would work during the night if they were paid, but they are not. The money for these services comes from the Casa Nationala de Asigurari de Sanatate (The National House of Health Insurance).

However, when one reporter for The Bullet went to the medical center at 6 p.m. one evening recently, the place was empty, even though two of the doctors were supposed to be on duty until 7 p.m.

The treatment room door was open and the lights were on. Anyone could have wandered in and taken medicine, which was not securely locked, or looked at confidential files. What if this had been a real emergency?

A similar situation occurred when a reporter went to the Politehnica clinic at 10:30 in the morning and found no doctor present.

Students who want a free medical consultation must first register. Those from the University of Bucharest can get their record card filled in at the medical center at the Faculty of Law. They must bring an identity card and a student card. Foreigners need to show their passports with a visa in addition.

If students get sick during the day, they can call the emergency numbers (315-7187 for the University of Bucharest and 402-8337 for the Politehinca University) and hopefully an ambulance will arrive in time.

According to doctors at The Faculty of Law and at the Politehinca University in Regie, ambulances often do not arrive quickly.In fact, they can take hours. Officials said they often took emergency cases to the hospital themselves in their own cars or by taxi, or by police car or in a university vehicle.



The universities do not have their own ambulances. They use the 112 service like everyone else. That is why doctors resort to these unconventional means of transporting students to the hospital. In fact, according to a staff member of the Bucharest University consulting room, students should consider themselves lucky if someone arrives in time to take care of them. It means their call has been taken seriously.

When asked what they would do if faced with a medical emergency, many students said they would call 112, even though those who have been through such an experience know that they are taking a big risk.

“One guy on our floor was really sick one evening so we called 112. It took the ambulance about an hour and a half to arrive, during which time we actually thought we were going to lose him, because he was vomiting continuously,” said Alexandru Popa, freshman at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering in the Politehnica University.

Student emergency cases are usually treated at The City Hospital, or The Collegiate Emergency Hospital. Less serious cases go to the hospital for children and young people or the student clinic.

Some students who have received these services were not satisfied. “If I had a more serious problem I would definitely go to a private clinic. It’s the third time I come here and I feel like these doctors help you because they have to, not because they want to. They see it as an obligation and … they just don’t care. I feel that I benefit from their services because I don’t pay, but not more than that,” said Corina Cojan, a student at the University of Bucharest.

“It is written on the front door that this is a hospital for children and students, but I see a lot of old people around. Maybe they get free consultation too,” she said. For students at the Politehnica, medical assistance at night or weekends is provided by the Emergency Room at S.U.U.B – The Collegiate Emergency Hospital at Splaiul Independentei 169.

“We’ve had many emergency cases of all types. Of course, a major emergency would be a suicide, which unfortunately has happened, but for a freshman in the middle of the exam period, a 39ºC fever with an intense headache is also quite a serious emergency,” said Dr. Dorina Pasca at the Politehnica clinic.

A major emergency is also an epidemic. According to both Dr. Olimpia Preda of Bucharest University and Dr. Dorina Pasca of the Politehinca, the university surgeries don’t decide on their own what measures to take if an epidemic breaks out in a dormitory or a Faculty. They only report the case and then apply the decisions taken by the Directia Nationala de Sanatate (National Health Directorate). “We are just the final link in this chain,” said Dr. Pasca.

Two years ago, there was an epidemic threat in one of the dorms in Regie after a girl died of meningitis. “There was a two-week quarantine and about 140 students on the same floor and the ones from connecting floors were supervised and investigated,” she said.

Ultimul număr tipărit (mai 2007, format PDF):