A cockroach in the hospital at the Kramáre locality, Bratislava. (source: Denník N)
A seven-year-old girl with a serious case of rotavirus was admitted to the infectious diseases ward at Bratislava’s Kramáre hospital last Friday, 11 April. Confined to an isolation room with her mother to prevent the spread of infection, they discovered they were not entirely alone: on Saturday afternoon, the mother encountered a cockroach scuttling across the toilet floor — and promptly killed it.
She informed the nurse and asked her if they knew they had cockroaches in the ward. "She said that they knew about it, extermination was recently carried out, but that they heard that they had returned and they would have to deal with it again," she told the Denník N daily.
The woman came across a second cockroach later, this time in the bathroom.
"It's a terrible place, the ravages of time have left a mark on the very poor hygiene conditions; there are old, unrenovated, smelly toilets and bathrooms," she described the state of the hospital.
In response, the University Hospital apologised for the state.
"An isolated occurrence of a cockroach in a personal hygiene facility can occur in older buildings even relatively shortly after the extermination, which was carried out in these premises three weeks ago," spokesperson Eva Kliská told the daily, adding that the renovation of the entire building where the ward is located is planned in the upcoming months.
Staff earn praise
The Health Ministry, the seat of which is front of the hospital, did not respond to the daily's questions.
"I would like to see what the health minister or a government official would do if their child or wife was there for three days to three weeks," the mother said.
Slovak governments have been talking about a new hospital in Bratislava for years, but nothing has been done. Last year, current Health Minister Kamil Šaško (Hlas) said he would announce a new site of the hospital by this March; he has yet to do so.
According to the mother, the staff manage to work wonders despite the conditions. "I can't say a single bad word about their care," she said.
Mould in Slovak hospitals
In recent years, Slovak media have repeatedly reported on the presence of mould in hospitals across the country, including at the University Hospital Bratislava's (UNB) facility on Mickiewiczova Street in the capital's Old Town. Reports of mould at the Kramáre hospital surfaced as recently as 2023.
Back in 2019, then-prime minister Peter Pellegrini – now the president of Slovakia – took a hard line on the issue. Speaking at a public debate, he claimed that any hospital director who allowed mould to appear in a patient room should be dismissed immediately.
"If I walk into a hospital and find such a room, the director is out within the hour. I don't care whose nominee they are...They'll be out on the street straight away," Pellegrini said. "They can go buy a tin of paint in Baumax on a Saturday and repaint it themself by Sunday – and there'll be no more mould."
His remarks prompted medical students across Slovakia to begin sharing photographs of mouldy walls and ceilings from hospitals in various parts of the country.
At the time, Pellegrini was a senior figure in the ruling Smer party, which had held the Health Ministry portfolio for 11 years. Today, responsibility for the ministry lies with Hlas, the junior coalition party Pellegrini founded after leaving Smer in 2020.
