Save the Children: EUR 3 mln renovation of Bucharest maternity hospital nears completion

The rehabilitation and equipment upgrade works at Polizu Maternity Hospital in Bucharest, which involved major interventions in three essential medical departments and the acquisition of vital medical equipment, are in their final stages, Save the Children Romania announced.

The project includes the renovation and equipment upgrade of the Intensive Care Unit, the Operating Room, and the Obstetrics and Gynecology 4 Department, as well as the equipping of the Neonatology Department. The total costs exceed EUR 3 million.

The modernization project includes the refurbishment of electrical, heating, and plumbing installations, medical gas systems, as well as ventilation and air conditioning systems to ensure a sterile environment suitable for high-complexity surgical interventions. It also involves the modernization of operating rooms and the replacement of medical equipment with state-of-the-art technology.

However, to guarantee the safety of patients, before relocating the activity, revisions were necessary in the operating room of the Polizu Maternity Excellence Center, and the relocation of the Blood Transfusion Unit was required to allow surgical interventions to take place under optimal conditions during the renovation and modernization works, the organization said.

"Considering that the Operating Block and the ICU have not undergone major and comprehensive modernization work in over four decades, additional interventions were needed beyond the initial plan," reads the press release.

Annually, doctors perform approximately 3,200 surgeries in the Operating Room, of which over 1,200 are major interventions with a high degree of complexity. Thus, around 5,000 patients are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit and the Operating Room each year for complex surgeries, ranging from high-risk pregnancies to oncological pathologies.

Because Polizu Maternity houses the largest neonatal intensive care unit for premature babies in the country, it treats mothers with various pathologies from all over Romania who give birth to premature infants, as well as pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies (such as preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome, placenta previa, and so on).

During 2023, 321 premature babies were born at Polizu Maternity, with 5.3% of them being born at the threshold of viability. The smallest premature baby to survive weighed 540 grams at birth.

"It was a complex intervention. As the works progressed, we discovered new needs and had to quickly identify sources of funding, so that the vital departments for treating oncological cases, as well as for complicated births requiring state-of-the-art medical equipment, could be reopened as soon as possible and, most importantly, provide the best medical care," explained Gabriela Alexandrescu, Executive President of Save the Children Romania.