Needles Infected With Staphylococcus Supplied to Romanian Hospitals

A random test, performed in March on needles used in spinal anesthesia at Saint Mary Hospital in Bucharest, showed they were infected with staphylococcus. Narcis Copca, manager of the hospital, informed the Ministry of Health that the needles, bought from importing companies Phoenix Med 2000 and Pansiprod, were tainted and likely to cause severe infections like meningitis.

The "Saint Mary" Council of Administration authorized Copca to buy needles from other providers, but the national and local health authorities the doctor warned on the danger looming on other hospitals too did not react.
Very important is that the testing performed at "Saint Mary’s" was not a standard one, hence any other hospital using needles from the same importers might run the risk of infecting - or already having infected - their patients.

No official reaction and also no information are available on which exactly were the hospitals buying needles from the same source. PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu asked the minister of health to take out of the list of health supplies providers those companies which sold poor quality merchandise.

Phoenix Med belongs to the Romanian-Israeli citizen Sorin Beraru. He was already condemned in absentia to a seven-year prison term for failing to pay the Romanian state several million dollars, and the attempt to give a 1.5 million dollars bribe to a prosecutor in the General Prosecutor’s Office investigating his business.

Romanian judges issued an international search warrant for Beraru, which was circulated via Interpol, but no sign of him was found yet.