Cav's Place

A journalistic investigation first revealed on April 25 that neither the authorities nor the hospitals ever check the disinfectants used, merely trusting the information provided by the manufacturers. Then, as more details were released over the following days, it was also revealed that disinfectants manufactured by Hexi Pharma are very diluted, having as little as a tenth of the listed concentration, yet the prices are increased several or even more than ten times compared to the purchase price of the substances used, through off-shore operations. In addition, many of Hexi Pharma’s contracts were attributed directly and not as a result of a call for bids, and there were also discussions about ties between this firm and the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI).
Several other groups joined the investigation over the coming period, both journalists and activists striving to dig up and release as much information as possible. The groups of activists also included The Romania Initiative (IR), which can be said to have taken a break from focusing on the upcoming local elections for this reason, even though that was their obvious goal for this year. Other activists, however, tended to mostly just follow the story and before May 5 mostly alternated between posting about this and issues related to the upcoming elections, calls for action being rather uncertain and definitely disorganized, the only clearly visible actions being those meant to support the now-former Minister of Culture. Some did say that the issue with the Minister of Culture was probably just an attempt made by the authorities to take attention away from this far more serious problem, though.
It was only after the Minister of Culture was revoked on May 3 that, while obviously unhappy with the result even though he was replaced with the person he supported for the position when initially announcing his resignation, many seemed ready to leave that issue behind and take visible action regarding this other matter. At the same time, considering both the weather and the continued stream of information, this delay was likely for the best and some were even saying that a little more time would have been needed to better prepare a proper protest.

As far as the authorities are concerned, the initial reaction was to request a hasty and basic internal investigation into the efficiency of the substances, continuing to ignore the concentrations and prices, and it was reported that less than 5% of samples revealed ineffective disinfectants and that applied to those not produced by Hexi Pharma as well. Since the Minister of Health announced this as if it should have settled the matter and there were also some obvious lies regarding which hospitals used Hexi Pharma disinfectants and, as it was also admitted even by some officials, the real number of hospital-acquired infections is dozens of times higher than what is reported, adamant calls for a resignation immediately followed. A few did manage to remain rational, however, pointing out that the resignation of a Minister who only quite recently took office will do nothing to solve a problem that has existed for many years and affects many parts of the system, but may in fact be used as a way to defuse the situation without actually doing anything about the real issue.

It can probably be said that the first clear action taken by a significant number of activists and protesters was the result of an article published by VICE Romania on May 5, asking people to submit freedom of information requests to demand the release of the list of hospitals using the disinfectants shown as being inefficient. The article included a guide and a sample message and, while initially the requests were denied with the claim that the information was part of an ongoing investigation, the Government is not in the position to make that assessment and the High Court stated clearly that there was no reason to withhold that information. As a result, the list was released on May 6 and it included nearly a fifth of the hospitals in Romania, though many, even in the mainstream media, expressed the opinion that even that number may only include those willing to admit and take measures to solve the problem while the rest continue to attempt to hide it.

Back to May 5, a small group of activists known for such actions painted the area in front of the Ministry of Health red, claiming that the paint used was diluted ten times with water and showing how easily it can be washed off, being as ineffective as those disinfectants. The stated intent was both to raise the alarm about the situation, depicting in a very visible manner the fact that the Ministry is responsible for so many deaths by not solving this problem and continuing to protect those directly responsible, and to promote the bigger protest which had by then been announced for May 6, from 7 PM, at the University Square fountain.
This bigger protest wasn’t created by one of the known groups or activists, but it was quickly picked up and promoted by pretty much everyone and the time seemed to be picked well as well, not only because it was Friday evening but also because the weather finally seemed to allow it. The demands were less clear at first and there didn’t seem to be any plan other than gathering around the fountain, but proposals were made and polls were posted, the one attracting the most attention and the highest number of responses being the one posted by the United We Save Community. As a result, while some obviously still disagreed or had other ideas, some things more or less fell into place.

Still annoying that the interest on-line seemed far greater than that suggested by the perhaps about 1000 people who actually showed up, but it could have been worse. In fact, it would have been worse if the activists who usually lead such protests wouldn’t have stopped waiting for those who kept lashing out against them and demanding that they stay away to show some leadership instead and make the people gathered there actually protest, because pretty much nothing happened until they took charge at 8:15 PM, people simply splitting off in small groups and chatting, and some were starting to leave. Not that this spared them from continued attacks, of course, Claudiu once again being the main target and on the receiving end of the usual litany of accusations and insults both during and after the protest, despite the fact that it was in large part thanks to him that there was an actual protest that evening at all.
Personally, I missed those first minutes after they decided to get things going because I “managed” to hit my head quite hard on a metal bar I was trying to pass under in order to reach them and take a few more pictures, so I went to the bathroom in the underground passage to see how it looked and wash the area a little, since the skin was scraped and I already had quite a lump. Then, after finally making my way back when Claudiu had the loudspeaker and people were gathering in a circle to actually protest, I spent much of the time keeping my hands cold and pressing them against the area to reduce the swelling, but I was otherwise there until the last stop in front of the Government and tried not to miss much else.
It was about 9 PM when there was a call to march to the nearby Ministry of Health, though people took a while to get moving and some even stayed behind. The gendarmes, on the other hand, didn’t try to stop us in any way, the only incident I’m aware of being that one asked the activists who started using loudspeakers to get the protest going to keep quiet, but then walked away when asked if he’d still feel the same if he’d get injured, which is likely in his line of work, and end up with a hospital-acquired infection due to diluted disinfectants. In fact they were even clearing the way to the Government for us while we were still at the Ministry of Health and, though some definitely were asking for it, there was no real plan to go there yet.
Then again, it was only this march to the Government, which took perhaps 45 minutes or so if you count from the moment we returned to University Square and took to the street, that can be said to have caused any inconvenience, because the area we marched through until then was mostly closed to traffic anyway due to the Spotlight Festival, which attracted far more people than our protest. For that reason, there were moments when it was difficult to figure out who was there for one thing and who for the other and there obviously were attempts to persuade some of those watching the light shows to join us, but while it’s possible that a few of them did, for the most part they were just enjoying the show and either ignoring the protest completely or looking on sort of as one would at a bunch of circus freaks passing through. Because, you know, some pretty lights are so much more important than what will happen if they or their friends or loved ones will ever end up in hospital and those who try to do something, little as it may be, for a cause are just crazies getting in the way of all the rest who’re just trying to live their lives without giving a fuck.
But to return to the march to the Government, some may have joined us on the way but even more left, as it was pretty clear will happen under the circumstances, so I heard estimates of the number of people who gathered in Victory Square at the end ranging between 300 and 500, which seems fair enough to me, though I didn’t try to make one myself at that time, as the head of the column was there around 10:30 PM and, after taking a few final pictures out of which I only kept one, by 10:40 PM I was already at the metro station, leaving. There were probably more gendarmes than protesters there anyway, such a strong presence, especially since it was rather surprising after what had happened until then, prompting a few reactions from protesters, but I’m not aware of any incidents and by 11 PM people had cleared away.

That protest didn’t initially seem to be followed by another on May 7, but the Alliance of Medics announced one and, despite the short notice, the event was shared and promoted by some known activists that day. However, even though the time and place were the same as the day before and, following a brief storm around 5 PM, the rain stopped and the wind calmed down, even some of those activists failed to show up and there was no protest to speak of. Admittedly, I left at 8:30 PM, but it doesn’t seem I missed anything that happened later, so I can say that there were around 100 people, including the medics, split in groups around the fountain area, without shouting or chanting anything and having brought a grand total of two signs. There was also a larger banner, but that was not related to the topic of the protest, having been brought by a group that tends to always show up to promote their own agenda while accusing others of manipulation and stealing protests.

Then, following a relatively quiet Sunday, today, May 9, brought a number of significant new developments, including the resignation of the Minister of Health, which was desired by many but is in my view at best meaningless and possibly even dangerous. More information was also released, revealing that Hexi Pharma isn’t even in the top ten companies that benefit from directly attributed contracts in the medical system, but also that SRI was aware of these issues for a long time. While the current Prime Minister claimed he never received anything of the sort since taking office, the Service reacted by releasing a statement claiming that they informed the authorities many times over the years about the problems plaguing the health system, including the matter of inefficient disinfectants and the resulting hospital-acquired infections. At the same time, however, their own hospital purchased such products directly from Hexi Pharma, regardless of the result of the call for bids.