Prosecutors in Mexico City are investigating several doctors who allegedly issued false death certificates for people who could have died from the coronavirus, authorities reported Friday.
Given the increasing number of deaths from COVID-19 in Mexico, the need to speed up burials and cremations has apparently led to a black market in death certificates. 625 new deaths from the coronavirus were reported in the country on Friday, down from 1,092 on Wednesday – the highest number reported in a single day – and 816 on Thursday.
Now more than 4,000 additional infections are regularly confirmed each day in Mexico, and the total number exceeds 110,000, although authorities acknowledge that the actual number is much higher.
In describing the investigation, the head of government Claudia Sheinbaum stated that “there were some doctors, especially private … who were involved in the collection of these services,” despite the fact that the death certificates are allegedly free, but sometimes the process to obtain them it can be long and full of bureaucratic procedures.
“They sold these certificates when they shouldn’t have,” said Sheinbaum.
Presumably at least one employee of the capital government and about 10 doctors – none of whom worked in city hospitals – participated in the scheme, added the head of government.
There are also indications that the doctors could have signed the acts with causes of death other than COVID-19 for corpses that they never saw or examined, although the reasons are unknown, authorities said.
The bodies had been piling up in hospitals in Mexico City as the pandemic worsened, and some relatives may simply have wanted their dead relatives to get out of there more quickly. Furthermore, the corpses of people who died from the coronavirus have to be cremated or buried under stricter regulations, so some families may have paid to obtain a false record in order to save that, or the social stigma that the virus carries. .
No charges have been filed in the case.
It would not be the first scandal in Mexico of alternative businesses that have arisen due to the pandemic.
In May, authorities found 3.5 tons of hospital waste dumped illegally in a forest on the outskirts of Mexico City. Officials also discovered 4,500 cubic meters (6,000 cubic yards) of medical waste crammed into a warehouse in Puebla state.
Meanwhile, piles of discarded coffins have piled up outside Mexico City’s overwhelming crematoria. Specialized incinerators are overloaded by the torrent of protective equipment and infectious tissues that are occurring due to the pandemic.
Mexico suffers from widespread problems with unregulated companies in the waste disposal and funeral parlor sectors. According to the Senate, 60% of funeral agencies in the country are not registered or are partially registered.
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