Bucharest looks to fight hospital infections with robot help

The Bucharest Hospitals Administration is looking to purchase robot-based technology to fight hospital infections, according to a project to be discussed by the Bucharest General Council (CGMB). The Victor Babeş Infections and Tropical Diseases Hospital in Bucharest is set to host the project, which has a budget of EUR 150,000 plus VAT, Hotnews.ro reported. It entails the purchase of a robot that uses pulsed-xenon UV light to fight hospital-acquired infections. It covers a large range of pathogen agents. The Victor Babeş Hospital was chosen because it admits a high number of patients with infectious diseases with multi-resistant germs, and serious and contagious cases. The hospital currently disinfects its wards using standard methods, with the cleaning and terminal disinfection taking approximately 12 hours. During this time, the rooms cannot be used, which limits the option of admitting new patients. The project of the UV light robot is to take place between July 2018 and March 2019. Once the project ends, the hospital will draft a report on the efficiency of using this technology. The problem of hospital infections came to public attention after the fire at Colectiv Club in Bucharest, in 2015. The nosocomial infections were the main reason why some of the survivors later died in hospitals. The following year, a journalistic investigation revealed that hundreds of hospitals in Romania purchased overpriced highly diluted disinfectants from local company Hexi Farma for years. More than 57,000 hospital-acquired infections, also known as nosocomial infections, were reported in Romania between 2010 and 2015, according to a document of the Ministry of Health. Romania gets European expert help to fight hospital infections editor@romania-insider.com