Main suspect in Hexi Pharma case apparently dies in car crash
The scandal of the diluted disinfectants used in Romanian hospitals continues to make headlines.
Florentin Căpitănescu, 23.05.2016, 12:05
In what seems to be a bizarre coincidence, the owner of Hexi Pharma, the company that has been selling diluted biocides to hundreds of Romanian public hospitals, apparently died in a car accident on Sunday afternoon. Condrea was presumably found dead after he crashed into a tree, on a local road north of Bucharest. The Police have announced the opening of a criminal investigation in this case. They dont rule out the possibility of a suicide, as they found no breaking marks at the accident site. The victim was found disfigured, so the police assumed it was Dan Condrea as they found his ID documents in the car. The identity of the victim will only be confirmed after a DNA test.
On Monday, Condrea was supposed to be heard by prosecutors again, running the risk of being detained. Just a few weeks ago, a journalistic investigation showed how the concentration of biocides supplied by Hexi Pharma to health-care units all over the country was up to ten times lower than legally required. Consequently, the company has been prosecuted for actions running counter to disease prevention and counterfeiting. Also, the Court has imposed some legal restrictions on Hexi Pharma in terms of liquidation procedure and its right to produce and sell biocides, to name just a few.
The resignation of the Health Minister, Patriciu Achimas Cadariu, and this weeks meeting of the Higher Defence Council to discuss the issue show the magnitude of the scandal.
President Klaus Iohannis, however, has warned that a meeting will not solve the problem: “This problem wont be fixed at the meeting of the Higher Defense Council. Here we discuss the issue and find connections between, lets say, the activity of the Health Ministry and the Intelligence Services on this matter. But the solution does not lie with the Higher Defense Council but with the relevant institutions. Policies in the field should be drawn up by the Health Ministry. Its also the Health Ministry that should come up with improved norms, with procedures likely to prevent this sort of problems. And its up to prosecutors and policemen to find the people who broke the law.
The diluted disinfectants issue, although extremely serious, is only a small part of the gloomy picture painted by the Romanian healthcare system. Severely under financed for years, the staffs small salaries, the procurement policy, the poor hospital infrastructure and the suspicions regarding the pharmaceutical market have fuelled peoples lack of trust in the system, a system that seems to be a “national priority only in theory.
