Ecuadorian Congress to impeach Guillermo Lasso’s former health minister

Ximena Garzon Villalbaformer minister of the health portfolio of the government of Guillermo Lasso, will appear on February 14 for a political trial against her for an alleged purchase of drugs without health registrationwhich were supplied to public hospitals and by breach of its obligation to ensure the medical care of persons suffering from serious or catastrophic illnesses.

Parliamentarians who promote this process of political scrutiny are Ricardo Vanegas of the Pachakutik bench, y Nathalie Viteri, of the Christian social bloc. Ecuadorian legislators accuse Garzón Villalba of acquiring medicines without the control required by the regulations, of not delivering medicines in due time to people suffering from serious illnesses and of generating international disputes based on these circumstances.

Garzón Villalba resigned from Ministry of Health in July 2022 after the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, declare a state of emergency for the public health system to deal with the shortage of medicines and medical supplies. The ex-minister was charged with these offenses after the decision of the plenary of the Ecuadorian Congress to approve a resolution to continue the investigation after not having had enough votes to recommend the installation of the trial in the Commission of control. 61 of 137 lawmakers voted in favor of starting the impeachment process.

From the briefs presented in the trial, it appears that the Ministry of Health, under the leadership of Ximena Garzón, reached an agreement with the National Public Procurement Service for the adoption of regulatory reforms of the Organic Procurement Law public, in order to promote the purchase of medicines without suppliers certified in good practices or health registration. These are requirements for any purchase by the National Agency for Health Regulation, Control and Surveillance (ARCSA), which is the technical body of the State in charge of regulation, technical control and health surveillance.

With these facilities, the Ginsberg Ecuador SA laboratories, declared a defaulting contractor to the State in 2017 and a social security debtor in 2019, have resumed their activity as a supplier of medicines intended for the public health system. In this way, the delivery of drugs was mediated by public companies.

After the government purchased the drugs from Ginsberg, which outsourced the production to state-owned enterprises in some intermediary universities, ARCSA took steps to verify the preparation of these drugs in these laboratories, but some of them failed. prevented access to the regulatory agency. . On May 19, 2022, ARCSA announced that these drugs did not follow good manufacturing practices and recommended avoiding their consumption.

The questioners said that the first warnings about the purchase of drugs without control and other irregularities came from the current Minister of Health, Jose Ruales. Lawmaker Vanegas argued that when the questioned ex-minister was taken care of, not only did the patient receive inadequate care in the hospital, but he was also prescribed drugs unfit for human use . Vanegas said the number of people who have died from this cause is unclear, but he knows warnings have been issued about the use of these drugs.

The accusations of MP Nathalie Viteri are linked to the lack of care in the health system for people with serious illnesses. Viteri seeks to demonstrate that people affected by these convalescences have not received adequate care from the Ministry of Health since they do not receive medication adapted to their illnesses.

The National Assembly, by a simple majority, summoned the former Minister of Health, Ximena Garzón Villalba, for negligence in the process of acquiring medicines that she is accused of having obtained expired, without a file or with irregularities.

Garzón Villalba now works as a university dean and as a professor at a medical school in Quito.

Continue reading: