MEXICO CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st May, 2020) Marcelo Navajas, Bolivia's health minister, has been detained on suspicion of corruption related to the purchase of Spanish ventilators to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Director of the country's Special Force to Combat and Control Crime (FELCC) Ivan Rojas said on Wednesday.
"The minister is detained and is at the FELCC's disposal in La Paz," Rojas told reporters, as quoted by El Deber newspaper.
The scandal over the ventilators arose the day after the equipment was shipped to the country, when doctors said that it did not meet the requirements of the World Health Organization and was not suitable for use in intensive care. In addition, it turned out that the Bolivian government paid more than $27,000 for each of the 170 ventilators that caused protest, including by universities, which previously offered to produce equipment at an average price of $1,000.
Bolivia has so far registered 4,481 COVID-19 cases and 189 related fatalities.
