Peruvian gang was charging US$20,000 for Covid-19 intensive care bed

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Peruvian National Police dismantled a gang that demanded up to 82,000 Soles (about US$20,000) for a bed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a public hospital in Lima for seriously ill patients with Covid-19.

The Minister of Health, Óscar Ugarte, said at a press conference on this case that it is “abominable that someone could negotiate with ICU beds” and remarked that “the sanction must be drastic”.

The members of the gang, known as “Black Angels”, are employees of the Almenara hospital, administered by the Essalud social security system and therefore free of charge, who were in charge of admitting patients to ICU beds.

Ugarte added that “the Ministry of Health will contribute and the new authorities as well” to clarify this accusation.

Early Wednesday morning, the National Police arrested nine people under investigation for this complaint, filed by the family of a patient who needed to be admitted to the ICU.

Among those accused are the coordinator of the Almenara Health Network, Pedro Pino Gonzales, and the treasurer of the non-governmental organization Donantes de Esperanza, Ana Aróstegui Girano.

Prosecutor Reynaldo Abia advised the press that the detainees allegedly charged 82,000 soles (US$20,000) to relatives of Covid-19 patients to change the waiting shift and give them priority. “We have been able to verify that this fact is not isolated, as we had already had another previous complaint in this same hospital,” said Abia.

The prosecutor added that communications confirm these facts and that there was also an irregular entry of biosecurity equipment to this health center.

The Covid-19 pandemic revealed the deep deficiencies of Peru’s health systems since, at the beginning of the epidemic, there were only 100 ICU beds in the whole country.

Severe cases of Covid-19 are referred to approximately 3,000 ICU beds available so far throughout the country. Still, during the pandemic, patients had to pay millions of dollars in private clinics to have access to these units with mechanical ventilation.

The pandemic has caused the death of 195,332 people, with 2,096,013 confirmed cases, and there are currently 6,892 hospitalized patients, of whom 1,981 are in ICU.