Peru: police arrest hospital workers charging for Covid-19 ICU beds

Police in Peru dismantled a criminal network involving workers from the public Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen hospital in Lima, accused of charging over USD 20,000 to admit Covid-19 patients to ICU beds. 

According to the local press, at least nine people were arrested in four districts of Peru’s capital. The scam unraveled as the ICU occupancy rates in the country hit 88 percent, with overall immunization reaching just 12.7 percent of the population. 

Peru is also the country with the world’s highest number of Covid-19 deaths per million inhabitants (5,906). Since March 2020, almost 2 million Peruvians have been infected with the coronavirus, with 187,000 deaths reported. 

This latest scandal will not be the first pandemic-related crime in the country: besides reporting a spate of empty syringes, Peru was ravaged by a massive vaccine-line leapfrogging case that exposed 487 public officials, including former President Martín Vizcarra. 

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• #iCUBeds
• #peru
• #vaccines