Corruption in BioCubaFarma causes losses of almost 25 thousand dollars

A total of 64 “extraordinary events”, of which 22 were processed as crimes, resulted in a loss of more than 575 thousand pesos for the state-owned BioCubaFarma in the first half of this year, official media reported.

During a plenary session of Parliament chaired by the first vice president of the island Miguel Díaz-Canel, it was announced on Tuesday that the largest Cuban pharmaceutical industry lost 575,345 Cuban pesos (23,972 CUC) since the end of 2016, for illicit activities in which thesubtraction of financing destined for workers' salaries.

“The greatest incidence was reported in the General Services Company (SERVIGEN), mainly due to the act of corruption that occurred at the end of December 2016 in the UEB of Construction, where workers and managers in the economic and human resources area stole financing intended for the salary of the workers,” said the president of BioCubaFarma, Eduardo Martínez Díaz.

BioCubaFarma reported 64 extraordinary events from January to June 2017, of which 22 have been classified as crimes, 34.3%. Among the companies with the most incidents are MEDSOL Laboratories (12), EMCOMED (7), ESINES (5), SERVIGEN (4), MEDILIP (4), ETI (4), CNIC (3), Roberto Escudero (3) and Farmacuba (2), picked up the portalCubadebate.

Before parliamentarians, the executive described the most significant criminal trends asthe theft or diversion of alcohol, construction materials, computer parts and medicationsOf the latter, 18 incidents were recorded in the first six months of the year.

In these events they were involvedtwo senior managers and 59 workers. In total, they were applied239 disciplinary measures, ranging from the definitive separation of the entity and the sector, to the removal of positions and public reprimands.

Martínez Díaz recalled that of the country's basic list of medicines, which is made up of 801 products, this business organization processes 499 of the 505 nationally produced products that comprise it.

For his part, another of the deputies from Havana pointed out that the pharmaceutical company steadily exports more than 400 million dollars, saving the country more than 2 billion.

Is the shortage of medicines in Cuba a result of theft or vice versa?

The vice president of BioCubaFarma, Tania Urquiza Rodríguez, explained to the aforementioned media that the theft of medicines, common thefts and incidents related to computer security have been identified as the most frequent punishable acts in the entity.

However, at the end of November, there have been events in the company30 acts of robbery or attempted robberymedication diversion. “Fortunately some have been thwarted by the companies' own Security and Protection bodies, but the number of cases has increased compared to 2016,” the directive acknowledged.

When there is a shortage of medicines in the country, these indisciplines proliferate, declared Martínez Díaz.

According to Vice President Tania Urquiza, the medications most vulnerable to being stolen are precisely the most popular.Tablets, analgesics, antipyretics, and others that are much more expensive, which are embezzled to be sold in other countries, such as blood products and biotechnological products.

Urquiza indicated, in this sense, that when a worker commits a crime of this nature, he is placed at the disposal of the courts and the administration immediately separates him from the company, "because we have verified that the change of job position is not effective, since "They relapse again and we cannot take that risk."

“Those who commit theftThey allege that they take the medication to help a family member who needs it, but this justification does not apply. At BioCubaFarma we are always aware of the needs of our workers' families, whenever someone needs a product we look for it, even if we have to move it from one production center to another," said the director.

Some of the cases are detected by the Police, others have been thwarted at the laboratory door. “They really are not large quantities, although a handful can fit dozens of tablets depending on the size. In a recent case, the diversion did originate in the warehouse itself, luckily it could be detected in time. But in another, the worker who committed the crime confessed that he had been embezzling products for more than four years. If every time that man went to the factory to work, he took a little bit, in the end the impact is considerable,” he added.

With information from Cubadebate.