Buenos Aires, December 7 (NA) – More than six months have passed since the investigation began into the contaminated fentanyl from HLB Pharma and Ramallo S.A. laboratories, belonging to mega-businessman Ariel García Furfaro, and many people continue with the uncertainty of knowing if their deceased relative was injected with the adulterated opioid. In May of this year, an investigation was launched into the possible link between vials of fentanyl contaminated with the bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae MLB and Ralstonia pickettie and several deaths in hospitals in La Plata and Rosario. More than half a year after the start of this investigation, Judge Ernesto Kreplak is investigating 173 deaths in the case, although more suspicions and cases continue to be added. In various WhatsApp groups or on social networks, every week the relatives of patients who died months ago and who were injected with fentanyl in hospitals on medical advice join. The doubt that still persists is knowing if the opioid used belongs to batches 31.202, which contained 154,530 vials, and 31.244 with 151,430 units, although the suspicion remains that there are many more that are not under investigation. Faced with this scenario of unknowns and uncertainty, those who are representing several relatives or those who have become 'experts' or 'investigators' in this case help relatives to access the main information to join the case: what batch was administered to the patient. This data can be known from the clinical history and the report of the hospital in question and, if it turns out to be one of the batches in question, the person must approach the Justice system for the case to be incorporated into the file FLP 17371/2025. Analysis and reports At the beginning of November, a new report from the Forensic Medical Corps of the Supreme Court of Justice was released, which determined that the contaminated opioid was the determining factor in 38 deaths. According to the document accessed by the Argentine News Agency, at the end of October, an update was made to the first report given by a medical board on the deaths in the case of adulterated fentanyl, and this time 20 more cases were analyzed, which determined a new alarming result. According to what is indicated in the report, in 38 of the 40 samples analyzed, it was confirmed that the administration of the contaminated opioid 'was key to the fatal outcome of the patients'. Regarding the other two cases, it was indicated that a direct link could not be established. Special Commission of the Chamber of Deputies In Congress, a special investigation was carried out for months to verify what happened and the responsibilities behind the country's worst health tragedy. Last Tuesday, December 2, the Commission presented the final report and determined that the Argentine State could not guarantee the traceability of the fentanyl or the effective control of the laboratories. It was also found that hospitals concealed cases, that there was documentation 'made a posteriori' by the authorities of both laboratories, and that the control bodies acted late and inefficiently. For the members of the Commission, the result is clear: the deaths from contaminated fentanyl were not an accident, but a chain of preventable failures, concealments, lack of control, and a laboratory that operated with inconsistent records, which were even confirmed by the employees themselves.
