Ecuador’s Hospital “Mafia” Unearthed in Guayaquil

[Judi Lynn]

Ecuador’s Hospital “Mafia” Unearthed in Guayaquil

Secret Tunnels, Cellars Found amid Squalor at State-Run Clinic

Rebeca Morla March 3, 2015 at 9:31 am

In January, Ecuadorian health officials declared a “state of emergency” in Guayaquil’s Teodoro Maldonado Carbo Hospital (HTMC), but fresh discoveries have kept the flagship state-run institution in Ecuador’s largest city in the eye of the storm. Inspectors accompanying President Rafael Correa on his second visit to HTMC on Tuesday, February 24, discovered over a dozen tunnels allegedly used to smuggle medicines out of the hospital for illicit sale.+

The system of passageways, filled with rusting pipes, cables, and puddles of fetid water, connects with multiple areas of the hospital. Signs of red paint indicate the entry and exit points of the network.+

Further beneath the tunnels themselves is an enormous cesspool collecting run-off wastewater. This massive source of infection was one of many severe irregularities found by the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS) team that accompanied President Correa on his visit.+

President Correa also announced the discovery of 42 cellars used to store medicine in unsuitable conditions, much of which had expired. Jonás Gonseth, the hospital’s newly appointed manager, claimed that many of the stores were “clearly linked” to the theft of medicines, putting the figure of expired products at US$7 million.+

More:
http://panampost.com/rebeca-morla/2015/03/03/ecuadors-hospital-mafia-unearthed-in-guayaquil/