Romanian authorities suspend private ambulance firm after footballer’s death

The Romanian authorities decided to suspend the private ambulance company Puls after they found several irregularities during a control organized after Cameroonian footballer Patrick Ekeng’s death. A Puls ambulance intervened when Cameroonian footballer Patrick Ekeng collapsed on the football field, during a match in Romania’s football league, on Friday evening. It took almost three minutes from the moment Ekeng fell unconsciously and the moment the ambulance took him to the hospital, according to video footage of the incident. Moreover, the witnesses said that the ambulance was not properly equipped and didn’t have a defibrillator. Some witnesses also claimed that the ambulance entered the field without its doctor, who was allegedly in the stands smoking, according to Mediafax. The judicial authorities have also decided to start an in rem criminal investigation in this case, for suspicious death. They want to find out why the ambulance entered the football field three minutes after the footballer collapsed and the other issues signaled by the witnesses. Meanwhile, a team from the Department of Emergency Situations within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and specialists from the Ministry of Health decided to check the private ambulance firm that intervened. The control team found several irregularities and decided to suspend the firm’s activity. The authorities found that the firm had changed the ambulances’ classification, without the legal approval. “The only functional ambulances where the type A ones (destined to patient transport only), the other three type B and C ambulances (destined for emergencies) being listed as defective. All the interventions, including the emergency ones, were made with type A ambulances, which were incompletely equipped,” reads a statement from the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU). The investigators also found expired drugs and medical supplies in the Puls ambulances. There were also medicines that expired in May 2015, including ampoules of adrenaline, used for resuscitation procedures. Moreover, some of the ambulances had defibrillators with discharged batteries. Company representatives weren’t able to specify the person responsible for the pre-hospital medical activity, according to the statement. Following these findings, the authorities decided to suspend the private ambulance firm’s activity for at least 30 days, until the irregularities are fixed, and fined it with RON 20,000 (some EUR 4,400) for breaking the rules on ambulance classification. The Public Health Department also fined the firm RON 3,800 (EUR 845) for the expired drugs and the way the medical waste was being handled. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Dsu.mai.gov.ro)