Relatives of deceased patients in Argentina due to allegedly contaminated fentanyl claim justice
Contaminated vials are being investigated by authorities.
Relatives of deceased patients due to allegedly contaminated medicinal fentanyl claimed for justice on Thursday in a silent demonstration in La Plata, Buenos Aires province, where 15 out of the 54 victims come from.
The deaths took place at least in that city and in Rosario, but institutions from four other cities across the country also purchased the opioid, according to a court investigation quoted by local press on Thursday.
A score of relatives, most of them in tears, marched towards the doors of Hospital Italiano to call for "justice for fentanyl victims,” as written on some of their signs.
They also carried photos of their loved ones, who received the doses between March and May.
“Fentanyl caused their death within days,” Alejandro Ayala, brother of Leonel, who passed away at 32, told AFP.
Courts are investigating the deaths as reported in May by the National Drug, Food and Medical Techonology Administration (Anmat), after the hospital claimed to have discovered contaminating bacteria in the opioid, a source of the body who wished to remain anonymous told AFP.
Hospital Italiano authorities informed that the deceased patients were in critical condition and it was not possible to assert that the fentanyl caused their deaths, but they confirmed the presence of the bacteris Klebsiella pneumoniae and Ralstonia pickettii in the opioid vials, according an Infobae article from last Friday.
Adriana Francese, a lawyer for three of the victims, told AFP on Thursday that a forensic team was appointed “to conduct an expert examination of the victims’ medical histories to determine the causal link between the contamination and death.”
HLB Pharma and Laboratorios Ramallo are also being investigated, since they sold over 150,000 contaminated vials to five provinces across the country, according to Infobae.
There were over 20 searches within the investigation, including companies, but no arrests have been made yet.
Fentanyl is between 50 and 100 times more powerful than morphine, according to World Health Organisation data.
In the US it is taking its toll: more than 80,000 people are estimated to have died of an overdose in 2024, out of which 48,422 were due to fentanyl.
TIMES/AFP