nsnbc : Colombian authorities have arrested four health officials on suspicion that they have caused the death of 16 babies who were given fake medicines to “apparently” treat respiratory illness.
The two suspects are the director of the pharmaceutical company Farma Pos, as well as an independent intermediay and the person in charge of purchasing medication for the Laura Daniela hospital in Colombia’s northern city of Valledupar.
The arrests followmore than six months of protests organized by the parents of the babies who dies in hospital. The death of 16 children was linked to “apparently” not having received the appropriate medicine.
The prosecution in this case states that Farma Pos developed “a fake version” of their drug “Survanta”. The original version is a drug for treating bebies with respiratory illnesses.
The prosecution also stresses that the “fake medicine” was subsequently sold to the “Rosario Pumarejo Hospital and the Laura Daniela Clinic where some newly born were treated with the fake medicine.”
Prosecutors in Valledupar are reportedly “trying to establish whether the supply of the drug was directly related to the deaths of some of the children who were treated during the month of April 2016.”
The suspects were charged with copyright infringement and fraud. It is unclear whether they will be held responsible for the deaths of the babies. The prosecution may find it difficult to provide proof of causation, even though manslaughter charges for the “corporate killers” could be realistic.
Colombia’s healthcare watchdog has been investigating the hospital and the Valledupar health secretary since last year after finding out that children had been given fake medicine between June 2017 and January 2017.
The watchdog stressed that the Laura Daniela hospital failed to verify the veracity of drugs that was purchased from local producers. Health authority Supersalud said in October it was investigating whether other hospitals in the region had also purchased and administrated fake medicine.
CH/L & A/N – nsnbc 06.04.2018
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2018/04/06/colombian-health-officials-arrested-after-fake-drugs-were-linked-to-death-of-16-babies/
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