Two former health care bosses charged
FORMER SOCIAL SECURITY(CSS) director Guillermo Sáez-Llorens and former Minister of Health Javier Díaz have been charged with alleged irregularities in the management of the $517 million City Hospital project approved in the last government.
Sáez-Llorens ruled controversially over the CSS during the Martinelli years with many issues arising involving patient care including the deaths of babies in the maternity department of one hospital, multiple jubilado deaths, and naming the new hospital city after the then president while still in office.
The flagship project continues, like the unfinished convention center, mired in controversy.
A source confirmed that Prosecutor Janeth Rovetto has also charged former Social Security officials Alberto Maggiori, Lizka Richards, Linnet Monterrey, Mirian de Sucre and Nelson Dueñas.
On May 12, about a dozen civic groups filed a complaint for irregularities detected in the project. It called for the nullification of the contract signed between the Spanish company FCC and Social Security.
Two months earlier, an inspection of the project made by Comptroller Federico Humbert and Social Security Director Estivenson Giron revealed that the walls of the project were made of plasterboard and not cement blocks, as established in the original contract.
After weeks of conflict, FCC agreed to replace the walls.
In addition, the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects objected to the location of the project due to the fact that it is in a remote area and near a national park reports La Prensa
