Source: Agência Senado - DF - 01/09/2009

It was read in Plenary this Tuesday (1st) the request for the creation of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) aimed at investigating the falsification of medicines and medical equipment in Brazil. The request was an initiative of Senator Romeu Tuma (PTB-SP). The CPI will consist of 11 senators and seven alternates, will operate for a period of 180 days and has an expense limit of R $ 50 thousand.

Romeu Tuma justified the creation of the CPI with the news about counterfeit medicine and medical equipment, which led the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to intensify the inspection of medicines, prostheses, surgical instruments and all kinds of health-related materials.

The senator pointed out that the situation reached such an alarming level that, just over two years ago, Anvisa created the Institutional Security Advisory just to investigate this type of crime. According to him, an extremely sophisticated structure was found for the assembly of medical equipment and / or adulteration of medicines on a large scale.

- The structure consists of a floating factory, a Chinese flag ship located 200 miles from the Brazilian coast, which has been producing medical consumable materials, such as disposable syringes and needles - he revealed.