A few years ago in Chisinau, Moldova, while in discussions at our Medical Workshop there, the topic of umbilical catheterization came up between doctors. It seems that Chisinau (in the Republic of Moldova) was still using the method of infusing an infant with emergency antibiotics, fluids, medicines etc, via the umbilical chord. It’s a quick way to secure access to the blood stream, however there are risks given its’ proximity to the liver. It became clear in their research that a very high number of children who had had this procedure were returning to the hospital with portal hypertension, cirrhosis of the liver, and many other complications. Many of the children coming with these conditions don’t have a life expectancy past the age of 15. Up to 80 children each year had come to the children’s hospital with liver conditions as well as gastrointestinal bleeding. Although the West of Europe no longer uses this procedure, a formal “change of procedure” has not made its’ way to the East. 

 

Changing such a procedure doesn’t happen overnight and with a few conversations or opinions, but rather requires a more formal approach and changes in legislation at the highest level of the Department of Health.

 

We decided to take some steps towards the possibility of changing this procedure in Chisinau, and arranged a round table in Rome with  Prof. Dr. Jean de Ville de Goyet, one of Europe’s leading  Hepatologists. We invited the heads of the Paediatric Hospital in Chisinau and the head representative of the Department of Health for the Republic of Moldova, to this round table in Rome which took place in Spring of this year.