Prosecutors said they would investigate the cause of the fire.
Bucharest:
Ten people died on Saturday in a fire at a Romanian hospital treating coronavirus patients, the national emergency agency (ISU) said.
The fire started in the intensive care unit at Piatra Neamt County Hospital and spread to an adjoining room. It is not known what triggered it, officials said.
Seven other people were injured and in critical condition, including the doctor on duty, they said.
Prosecutors said they would investigate the cause of the fire.
Health Minister Nelu Tataru told reporters that six surviving patients will be transferred to a COVID-19 hospital in the city of Iasi, in eastern Romania.
The injured doctor, who had severe burns on 40 percent of his body, would be transferred to a hospital in the capital Bucharest, Tataru said.
“In the future legislation, all public hospitals will be coordinated by the health ministry,” Tataru said without giving further details. Local hospitals are currently managed by county councils, making it difficult to have general supervision of the health system.
Tataru said Piatra Neamt Hospital will continue to operate an intensive care unit on a separate floor.
The fire was the country’s deadliest since 2015, when a nightclub in the capital Bucharest burned down and 65 people died.
This fire sparked mass protests across Romania against the country’s culture of corruption and lack of accountability.
Romania, which has one of the least developed health infrastructures in the European Union, has reported 353,185 cases of coronavirus and 8,813 deaths.
Just under 13,000 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized across Romania on Saturday, including 1,172 in intensive care units.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
