Romania

Romania Says Child Care Woes Not Rampant

May 11, 2006

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TIMISOARA, Romania -- Romanian health officials acknowledged problems Wednesday in caring for disabled and abandoned children, but disputed allegations by a U.S. human rights group of widespread neglect and abuse.

The government confirmed findings in a report by Washington-based Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) that children had been living in inhumane conditions in a psychiatric ward for adults in the eastern city of Braila.

Officials said the Braila case was uncovered in 2005 and authorities have since closed the hospital and moved the children to a new facility.

"I was in Braila and I saw that the conditions there were absolutely inhumane," said Bogdan Panait, who heads the National Authority for Protection of Children's Rights.

He conceded that problems still existed and said some of the most serious shortcomings should be resolved this year.

The western city of Timisoara's Center for Nutritional Recuperation also was criticized in the report.

On Wednesday, toddlers there napped on quilts, wearing clean pajamas in modern wards with clean, tiled floors.

Local officials disputed the group's findings.

The report is "confused, incomplete and irrelevant to the situation in Timisoara," said Mihai Gafencu, who manages the center.

MDRI experts reported that the 65 children housed in the facility weren't allowed to get off their beds because the institution was short-staffed.

Gafencu, who is also deputy chairman of Romania's Save the Children group, said MDRI had visited the hospital in February, while children were resting and napping after lunch.

Romania's poor treatment of those with mental illness, especially children, became known after leader Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown and executed in 1989.