The theft of 10,000 bags of blood from the Dr. Manuel Noriega Trigo Hospital, located in the San Francisco municipality, and the resale each for up to $180 in pharmacies near the public institution, motivated Sebin and GNB officials to arrest the director of the hospital, Dr. Elizabeth Borjas, This Thursday, February 2.
But the scandal did not end there, as the authorities recovered an ambulance, which was reported missing for two years, in the home of Borjas’ secretary, identified as Guibri Sánchez, located in the southern El Silencio neighborhood.
An unofficial source revealed to Final version that it would be Sánchez, who in his capacity as secretary of the highest authority of “Noriega Trigo”, would have forged the signature of Dr. Borjas to deliver the blood bags to the criminal network that was in charge of selling them on the black market.
So far the director del “Noriega Trigo” is the only one detained in the case. She resigned the same day of the arrest, while Sánchez was removed from her position. However, it transpired that Dr. Elizabeth Borjas would be released, since apparently she would be her secretary, the main defendant in the criminal plot.
According to the source linked to the investigation, apparently, Guibri Sánchez would have fled the country to Colombia.
The scandal at the hospital began with the arrival of supplies, including blood transfusion bags and surgical materials, which were “denied” for patients who needed it and they only provided aid to those who “offered a payment in exchange”, according to what he informed Final version, the informant.
In addition, he explained that the Single Health Authority in Zulia, José Medina, denounced officials of Detachment number 111 of the GNBthe theft of 10 thousand bags of blood between December 12, 2022 and the entire month of January 2023.
Due to this fact, also The person in charge of the Blood Bank, named Milezis Vera, was dismissed.
Likewise, a worker from the hospital compound denounced Final version that, supposedly, the doctors in charge of the hospitalization area “They charge $500 to get the patient into a room, even pregnant women are not given the supplies they need, but have to carry them themselves.”
The hospital, attached to the Venezuelan Institute of Social Security, received the last shipment of medical supplies, to date, on January 27 of this year, which unleashed a series of negative comments against medical staff for being presumed “plagues” before the supply of medicines that is restricted to patients.