A new corruption scandal shakes the Romanian healthcare system
The vice president of the National Authority for Medicines and Medical Devices, Lazar Iordache, has been detained on suspicion of bribe giving and influence peddling.
Daniela Budu, 24.08.2016, 12:51
Anti-corruption
prosecutors on Tuesday detained the deputy chief of the National Medicine
Agency, Lazar Iordache, suspected of bribe giving and influence peddling. The
denouncer, in this case, is precisely the health ministry official whom
Iordache offered the money to. According to anti-corruption prosecutors,
Iordache promised this health ministry official 5% of the budgetary funds
earmarked for the construction of a wastewater treatment unit and the purchase
of medical equipment for the two hospitals. Iordache allegedly paid the unnamed
person 126,000 lei (the equivalent of 28,000 euros) in April from the ministry
funds he had access to. In exchange for the money, the latter had to sign and
convince other ministry officials to sign the disbursement of the funds for the
two hospitals.
Fresh
information has emerged in the case of another scandal that rocked the Romanian
healthcare system, that of the diluted disinfectants for hospitals. Apparently,
some of the disinfectants produced by HexiPharma were not as diluted as
announced after initial assessments. Prosecutors investigating this case have
recently received a report from the Cantacuzino Institute in Bucharest, which
shows that some of the disinfectants analysed were indeed diluted, but without
exceeding the legal limits. Nevertheless, Romania’s general prosecutor,
Augustin Lazar, says the report’s findings are inconclusive for the case:
It is true, the
tests made on a set of disinfectants have been concluded, but another set is to
be sent for analysis. There are results of both types, positive and negative,
but only when we have the results of all tests can we establish their
relevance.
In this case,
the Prosecutor’s Office with the High Court of Cassation and Justice is
investigating HexiPharma, a company producing and selling disinfectants to
local hospitals, for preventing efforts to fight diseases. The company is
accused of having sold diluted disinfectants to over 150 hospitals. In May, the
Health Ministry recommended hospitals to stop using these disinfectants, after
having made public the results of several tests proving that some of these
substances had been diluted four thousand times.
In mid scandal,
the HexiPharma owner, Dan Condrea, died in a car accident, an event that
fuelled further speculation in this case. General prosecutor Augustin Lazar has
recently announced that the appeal filed by Condrea’s family to the Court’s
decision to classify the case of his death is being analysed. A month ago,
prosecutors established that Dan Condrea had committed suicide and decided to
close the case. The autopsy revealed that his death was violent, being caused
by multiple injuries.
