The touristic Bucharest doesn’t only mean museums, historical buildings, streets filled with tales of old. Bucharest is possessed also by a healthcare network which, regrettably, was all too little promoted or which, when spoken about, was introduced in gloomy colors. This healthcare network can turn the capital of Romania into a perfect destination for those who seek quality treatments and healthcare therapies. Today we will talk about the brain medicine, a sensitive branch in which Romania can boast with exceptional professionals.
The largest Psychiatric Hospital in the country is located somewhere in a peripheral residential area of Bucharest, in Berceni. Among the apartment buildings in Communist style, there stretches a location about which many say that is “a city in the middle of a residential area.” It has its own life and guides itself according to very clearly established rules. We’re talking about “Prof. Dr. Al. Obregia” Psychiatric Clinical Hospital.
The Story Behind the Hospital
Behind this Hospital at an international level there is a fascinating story that we should discover.
On June 2nd 1892, a law was decreed that determined the construction of a “great systematic hospice of alienated people near Bucharest.”
Proceeding from this law, the well-known professor Alexandru Obregia (1860-1937), with support from the then prime-minister Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino (1832-1913), came with the proposal that the Healthcare Institution would be erected on the land plot owned by Eforia Spitalelor Civile / Civic Hospitals’ Establishment, a land plot located between Filaret and Văcăreşti. The initiative turned into a law which was promulgated on March 10th, 1906.
It worth mentioning that the involvement of Prince Cantacuzino is also connected to the fact that he was a good knower of the Administration of Bucharest, in the context in which, for almost a whole year (April 1869—January 1870), he held the office of the aedile of the most important city in the country.
Following all those endeavors, under the rule of Carol I (Carol I of Romania, Prince of Hohenzolern-Sigmaringen, who reigned between the years 1866-1914), the construction of this great Hospital commences, for which the Romanian state makes available the amount of 2,500,000 lei. Measures are taken to the effect that the Hospital would include 900 Second Class beds and 80 First Class beds.
Following the plans designed by the very Professor Obregia, the workers open up the construction site in 1907. The outburst of World War I will delay the work, the Hospital being inaugurated only in 1923.
Work Therapy
The first designation of the Healthcare Facility was Spitalul Central / The Central Hospital, and the one who was its head it was Alexandru Obregia. Up until 1930, Prof. Obregia devoted himself wholly to this Hospital, applying a series of therapies meant to improve the sanity of the ones with mental problems.
The Work Therapy was extremely much utilized by the team coordinated by Prof. Obregia, somewhere behind the Hospital being developed real agricultural crops on which the sick would work. Prof. Obregia held the conviction that through such activities, the patients were helped to recover much easier.
In 1930, Prof. Obregia is replaced, and to the leadership of the Hospital comes Constantin Ion Parhon (1874-1969), Endocrinologist and Neuropsychiatrist with a vast experience. Parhon took over the position after he led the Socola Hospital in Iasi for 13 years (1917-1930). The coming from Iasi of the reputed specialist will lead to the development of the Hospital with an extremely important ward, the one of endocrinology.
Prof. Obregia continues to be active within the Hospital, his retirement only taking place in 1934. This is also the year in which in the position of director of the Healthcare Institution is appointed his disciple, Prof. Petre Tomescu (1890-1977).
Meanwhile, the Hospital continues to develop, and under the direction of Dr. Dumitru Bagdasar, the Neurosurgery Ward originates. Dr. Bagdasar gathers around himself an elite team including doctors Constantin Arseni, Ion Ionescu and Sofia Ogrezeanu-Ionescu. Concerning Sofia Ogrezeanu-Ionescu, it is known that she is the first female neurosurgeon in Romania, and, as it seems, in the world.
The Hospital grew, developed, nowadays getting to have 18 large wards, plus the Emergency Room, the Emergency Room of Pediatric Neurology, an Integrated Ambulatory for Medical Surgical Services, and the Pharmacy.
Today, the Hospital bears the name of the one who founded it, and the merit for this belongs to the Academicians Dan and Sorin Riga. The two reputed Professors put a lot of endeavor in this, and by the order of the Minister of Healthcare nr. 342 on March 4th 1998, accomplishing a triple repair: historical, moral and pertaining to heritage, the decision was made that the Healthcare Facility in Berceni will be called “Prof. Dr. Al. Obregia” Psychiatric Clinical Hospital.
Author: Ștefania Enache
Photo: Corina Gheorghe
