New information appear on a daily basis in the diluted disinfectants scandal in Romania, one of the largest in the local healthcare system. Local journalists discovered that the same diluted substances that have been used to combat germs in public hospitals have also been used for emergency interventions by Romanian soldiers fighting in NATO missions abroad in the last 10 years.

Thor, Suprasept and other antiseptics produced by Romanian firm Hexi Pharma, which were diluted up to ten times compared to their official composition, ended up in Kandahar, Zabul, Lagman, Nasiriyah, and Baghdad. Hexi products were also in the kits of those who were the first to intervene in case of gunfire, or mine explosions, write the journalists from Tolo.ro.

Since joining NATO 12 years ago, Romania has sent 43,000 troops in missions. Following the scandal in Romania, the Army decided not to use these products anymore.

A team of journalists from Gazeta Sporturilor sports newspaper, coordinated by Catalin Tolontan, was the first to bring up the problem of diluted disinfectants used in public hospitals.

This is one of the biggest scandals in Romania as the use of diluted and inefficient disinfectants has been putting patients' lives at risk for years. Hexi Pharma was supplying disinfectants to 350 hospitals, and their products were used for disinfecting 2,000 operating rooms, 140,000 hands, and 200,000 instruments each year, according to the company’s presentation.

The scandal led to health minister Patriciu-Achimas Cadariu's resignation. Hexi Pharma, the company that has been at the heart of this scandal announced it would shut down production and filed for insolvency. The General Prosecutor’s Office started a criminal investigation against the company.

The company had to withdraw its insolvency request after a Bucharest Court ruled that Hexi Pharma could not be dissolved before the prosecutors ended their criminal investigation.

Meanwhile, Romania's Government has continued to check how the public acquisitions had been carried out in local hospitals. Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos announced that new acquisition rules will be established in the public healthcare sector.

Some 50 public hospitals in Romania used inefficient disinfectants

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Hexi Pharma Co. on Facebook)