A female cancer patient has died after being set on fire during a hospital operation in Romania. The pancreatic cancer patient died on Sunday after suffering burns to 40 per cent of her body when surgeons used an electrical scalpel despite her being treated with an alcohol-based disinfectant at Floreasca urgent care hospital in Bucharest. Contact with the flammable disinfectant caused combustion and the patient 'ignited like a torch', lawmaker Emanuel Ungureanu said on his Facebook page, citing medical staff. 'The surgeons should have been aware that it is prohibited to use an alcohol-based disinfectant during surgical procedures performed with an electric scalpel,' deputy minister Horatiu Moldovan said. Despite some improvements due to increased funding, Romania's hospital system still suffers from dilapidated equipment and a shortage of doctors, and finds itself at the heart of repeated scandals.

Source: Daily Mail December 30, 2019 14:15 UTC