On Thursday, July 23, former Ministers of Health and doctors seeking the reopening of the Instituto de Higiene Leopoldo Izquieta Pérez, in Guayaquil, met at the Universidad Espíritu Santo (UEES).
The professionals are calling for the repeal of the decree that in 2012 eliminated this institution, which was dedicated to the study of diseases and the development of vaccines.
The former president Alfredo Palacios described as a robbery the extinction of the Institute of Hygiene in the previous government, it was a mistake that cost the lives of thousands of Ecuadorians after the arrival of the coronavirus.
They will send letters to the President of the Republic Lenín Moreno, to the Minister of Health, Juan Carlos Zevallos, and to the National Assembly, said the Dr. Pedro Barberán, Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the UEES.
“The control of medicines would now be done only by papers. Studies are no longer carried out to check if they have the components they indicate,” Barberán assured.
Former Minister Francisco Huerta emphasized that the Institute collaborated in the fight against epidemics such as malaria and yellow fever. Doctors agree that if the Institute of Hygiene had existed, the COVID-19 pandemic would have been faced in a different way.
