CSS director called murderer

Cries of “murderer”, “to jail” and “resign” greeted Panama’s director of Social Security (CSS) on the steps of the National Assembly,  Wednesday, August 3.

Guillermo Sáez-Llorens was there to offer an explanation to the full body of legislators for the deaths of at least 16 people in the CSS hospital in Panama possibly by the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase. (KPC).

Sáez-Llorens insisted that it was safe to visit the Metropolitan Hospital Complex and said  that since last year when the problem was discovered he held the necessary consultations with the Ministry of Health.

He said the bacteria was highly resistant to antibiotics and was brought to the hospital’s intensive care unit by a patient and the bacteria were confined to that area.

Sáez-Llorens said that representatives of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) told him it was difficult to establish whether patients died from the effects of nosocomial bacteria, and he called for the setting up  of a national commission to investigate 

the outbreak. The three man commission will include a member of the PAHO.