The Lombardy regional government
will stand as civil plaintiff in the latest probe into
corruption in the Lombardy health system, Governor Attilio
Fontana told an ANSA Forum on Wednesday.
"We have already tasked a lawyer, we'll make it formal in the
next executive meeting, who will follow us as injured party, and
we will stand as plaintiff" in the case involving two premier
children's hospitals, Fontana said.
Four hospital ward chiefs and a health agency manager were
arrested in Milan Tuesday in connection with a probe into
suspected healthcare kickbacks.
Two of the ward chiefs were from the Pini Hospital and the
other two from the Galeazzi Hospital.
They and the health sector manager were placed under house
arrest.
Meanwhile, an entrepreneur in the sector was arrested and
detained in jail.
The five are accused of corruption.
Those placed under house arrest were, for the Pini
Orthopaedic Institute, its health manager Paola Navone; Giorgio
Maria Calori, head of its surgery unit; and Carmine Cucciniello
head of its corrective orthopaedics ward.
For the Galeazzi, the head of the analysis lab Lorenzo Drago,
and the head of reconstructive surgery, Carlo Luca Romanò, were
placed under house arrest too.
Tommaso Brenicci, the head of a Monza healthcare sector
company, was placed under arrest in prison.
Paola Navone, the Pini hospital manager, allegedly got a
1,000-euro Christmas basket, the promise of an internship for
her daughter in one of the firms of detained entrepreneur
Brenicci, and the payment of her expenses for conferences in
Paris and Alto Adige, the investigations judge wrote in the
warrant.
In exchange, she allegedly authorised the introduction into
the orthopaedic institute of a device to diagnose joint
infections sold by Brenicci, at a company that was also linked
to another two ward chiefs who were arrested.
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