Scornicesti, Romania
Romania’s battle against a tuberculosis epidemic took a violent turn this week, when hundreds of villagers hurled rocks to turn back ambulances transferring TB patients to the local hospital. The residents of Scornicesti, the hometown of late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, shouted that they would not allow a TB ward to be set up in their midst. After police were called in, the mayor sided with the protesters and threatened to cut off the water and power to the hospital if it admitted the TB patients. “They are a danger to us and to our children,” protester Nicolae Manole told the Bucharest newspaper Ziua. Romania has the worst rate of tuberculosis in Europe. One Romanian dies of the disease every three hours.
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