Hayedelena received a clean bill of health in the most recent investigation commissioned by the Ministry of Health. Reem Leila takes stock of the inquest so far The poisoning of 28 patients who were treated with defective saline and glucose drips last May continues to raise questions about what really caused the sickness. Although the CEO of Hayedelena for Advanced Medical Industries Company (HAMIC) was stripped of his parliamentary seat and is currently serving a sentence for fraud and profiteering, Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabali has put the company's entire production line under close scrutiny. The most recent committee investigating HAMIC comprised of five experts, including former Health Minister Ibrahim Badran and Mahfouz Qassem, professor of pharmaceutical technology at the National Research Centre (NRC) in addition to other three experts. They concluded that all HAMIC products are in complete compliance with national and international standards, and hence present no health hazards. The 300-page report will be sent to the prosecutor-general to join previous reports. HAMIC which is owned by former MP Hani Sorour, has provided some 300,000 blood bags to several hospitals -- of which 37,000 were used and the rest recalled. HAMIC's CEO Sorour and his sister and partner Nivan were found guilty of delivering defective blood bags worth LE4 million to the Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) last year. The Sorour siblings are currently in jail, along with five others, after being convicted of fraud and profiteering for supplying MOHP with blood transfusion bags with serious technical defects. The findings of the five-man committee, however, contradict a previous report on HAMIC products prepared by some 20 university professors from five national universities. The professors, who were also commissioned by MOHP, reported that HAMIC blood bags containing an anti- coagulant were contaminated with bacteria and fungi, thus producing a bad odour. In addition, the directors of nearly 40 blood banks refrained from using HAMIC blood bags because they did not meet international standards. But Qassem was adamant in defending the findings of his team: "I challenge anyone to find any flaw or defect in any of HAMIC's production lines, factories or stores." He was one of three of the committee who were at the HAMIC factory for almost three months, where they found a well sterilised factory which is equipped with the most advanced machines. The objections to the products provided to MOHP, he pointed out, were optional criteria. "All the flaws mentioned are not considered technical defects because they can be easily corrected," Qassem explained. In May, El-Gabali ordered a committee to finalise exact specifications for some 20,000 medical equipment which the ministry uses and buys from outside suppliers. And it is these specifications which were the guidelines for the five-man team investigating HAMIC. MOHP spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shahin reassured Al-Ahram Weekly that "blood in Egypt is perfectly safe and clean." Shahin explained that samples of the used saline and glucose drips which were used in Sohag were sent to MOHP laboratories for analysis. "The results indicate that what happened to the patients was a mild reaction that could happen to anyone," he asserted. "There's nothing serious about the issue." The official spokesman provided further explanations by saying that the nurses made a mistake while handling the medicinal solutions which led to the contamination of the anti-coagulant. "The nurses will be banned from working for a period which has not yet been decided," Shahin confirmed, adding that a training programme for nurses was launched in a number of governorates, and will be offered across the country by the beginning of 2008.
