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Panamanians Want Answers for
Toxic Meds
Relatives of the victims who
died from contaminated
medication demanded on Friday
that Panamanian authorities
speed investigation of this case
and punish those responsible.
While some demand dismissal of
Health Minister Camilo Alleyne
and Social Secure Box Director
Rene Luciani and others tend to
defend them, all consider the
investigations are proceeding
too slowly.
During a meeting with relatives
of the victims, Attorney General
Ana Matilde Gomez assured that
if any official guilt is proven,
that person would be dismissed
and the matter would be in the
hands of the Public Ministry,
but that the investigation will
take longer due to the
complexity of the situation.
The case came to light with the
deaths of the first seven people
in October when investigation
revealed Spanish Rasfer SA sold
Panamanian Medicom consortium 40
barrels of supposed pure
glycerin, used to produce
pharmaceuticals, but these in
fact contained dietileneglicol,
a substance used for auto
antifreeze.
The health authorities confirm
50 dead in Panama, but the
Public Ministry is currently
investigating 245 deaths which
could be connected to this
crisis and the attorney general
said she has received another
244 complaints.
The World Health Organization
has denounced that the toxic
dietileneglicol is used to
reduce the cost of manufacturing
medicines and this substance and
"over a thousand victims" have
been observed in Argentina,
Bangladesh, Haiti, India and
Nigeria.
As of now, seven Panamanians
have been arrested in the case,
four of them employees of Social
Security.
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