BEIRUT: The Health Ministry Thursday demanded the public prosecutor hand over the results of an 8-year-old corruption probe of a hospital in Beirut's southern suburb, one week after the ministry ended a contract with said hospital over its treament of patients, a ministry statement said.
In the same statement, the ministry also asked the Industry Ministry to shut an east Lebanon dairy factory over poor health standards, and called for the prosecution of those behind the dumping of rotten food in a southern town two days ago.
The statement said 2007 inspections of a pharmacy inside Al-Hayat Hospital in the suburb of Shiyah turned up illegal and illicit drugs.
Inspectors also discovered medicine from unknown sources that were missing price tags and dealer logos.
Drugs were also found inside hospital labs that were not registered in Lebanon, and other medicine found in hospital rooms were not sourced from an accredited pharmacy.
The hospital also failed to produce invoices from pharmaceutical dealers during the 2007 investigation.
The statement said Health Minister Abu Faour called on the judiciary to share the full results of the investigation, and inform it of the trials and verdicts that the probe spurred.
The ministry last week announced that it had terminated its contract with Al-Hayat over the hospital's "bad dealings with patients." The statement did not elaborate.
Also Thursday, Abu Faour sent a letter to Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan demanding the closure of Al-Assi Dairy Products factory in the Bekaa town of Hermel after a Jan. 21 inspection revealed that it did not meet health and hygiene standards.
Tests of samples of dairy products revealed that they did not conform to the ministry’s health standards. The ministry also discovered a van in Sil al-Fil that was used to transport cheese from the factory that was not refrigerated.
Abu Faour also called on the south Lebanon prosecutor to pursue investigations and take judicial action against those responsible for dumping spoiled food in the town of Sharhabil in the Sidon area municipality of Boksta overnight Tuesday.
The mayor of Boksta had reported that two trucks unloaded their waste in the town, with villagers waking up to the stench of rotten food.
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