The Public Ministry will present this Wednesday in audience a Colombian doctor named Antonio José Amell Cantillo and the Venezuelan Francis Margarita Aguiar Salazar, dedicated to selling medicines that the State grants for free for the treatment of Covid-19.
This was reported by the Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek William Saab, who explained that this physician, a resident of Internal Medicine in the Ciudad Hospitalaria Enrique Tejera (CHET) located in Valencia, was arrested after an intelligence work carried out by the Public Ministry with the National Police against Corruption and the Bolivarian National Intelligence Services (Sebin) as auxiliary bodies.
The procedure was carried out after receiving denounces from relatives of patients, so the investigation was able to determine that this doctor sold medicines for the treatment of Covid-19, which are provided by the Venezuelan State for free.
He explained that Amell got the relatives and told them the sentinel hospital did not had medical resources, and that he could obtain each vial of Remdesivir for a cost of 800 dollars, when the Ministry of Health gives it for free. In the same way, he directed people and businesses near the hospital to print the admission templates to said hospital, for which they also had to pay.
This subject also maintained an association with at least 5 private pharmacies to sell the drugs that were stolen from the hospital.
The Attorney General repudiated that in this case, in which he showed a video showing that the doctor, a Colombian national, was selling drugs for the treatment of COVID-19; Colombia intends to create a scandal through the pronouncement of a group of congressmen and the Chancellory of that country, wanting to show that it is an arbitrary detention and that his life is in danger.
“No, the lives of patients who in a bad time fell in his hands were in danger” argued Saab, at the same time he assured that history repeats itself, the recidivism of Colombia that “out of envy and trying to see how Venezuela is affected” ruthlessly attacks the country.
He described the action of this doctor as a deplorable violation of ethical codes of the practice of medicine and serious crimes. In this sense, he revealed that on September 3, the deputy director of CHET ordered this doctor to admit the 74-year-old patient José Reyes; to whom were indicated 4 vials of Remdesivir, for which the doctor contacted the relatives of a deceased person, who had previously acquired the drug and agreed to purchase the drug for an amount of $ 1,800 and its subsequent sale for $ 3,200 to the admitted patient Reyes, at who was administered a single dose on September 4 at 11:30 am, as he died 45 minutes later.
The Attorney General reported that at the time of his arrest, medical supplies and medications were found at his residence: 55 containers of lyophilized powder for dilution, 132 vials and 15 containers of physiological solution produced in Colombia for exclusive hospital use.
“It is not uncommon for Colombian authorities to speak out in defense of this criminal, who does not have a marque license to do whatever he wants and act with impunity,” he reproached.
It was also learned that along with Amell Cantillo, was arrested Francis Margarita Aguiar Salazar, a representative of the Quincalla y Frutería Central – convenience and fruit store- , located behind the Enrique Tejera Hospital City; where forms of documents that were used in the administration of medical services of the hospital were seized, as well as medicines for free distribution granted by the State’s social programs.
Amell Cantillo is charged with concussion, extraction contraband and association to commit a crime, while Francis Aguiar is charged with the crimes of forging public documents, extraction contraband and association to commit a crime.
