The biomedical diploma presented by the laboratory assistant who worked at PCS Lab Saleme, Jacqueline Iris Barcellar de Assis, whose signature appears on one of the reports that attested to the false negative test for organs infected with HIV transplanted into non-carrier patientswas not recognized by the Universidade Pitágoras Unopar Anhanguera.
The training would be necessary to accredit and sign the testing report for organs to be donated, carried out by the private laboratory accredited by the Rio de Janeiro State Secretariat after winning the bid.
Jacqueline would have presented her supposed bachelor’s degree in Biomedicine, dated April 2022, to join the PCS Lab, but the college states that it does not recognize her as a student in any degree offered by the institution.
In a note, the laboratory states that the employee had induced the company to believe that she was competent to sign the reports by presenting the necessary documentation – in this case, the biomedical diploma and a professional card with qualifications in pathology. The professional registration presented in the card concerns another person, who no longer practices the profession and does not reside in Rio de Janeiro.
In an interview with the newspaper The GlobeJacqueline even stated that she is not a biomedical doctor and the registration with the Regional Biomedicine Council that appears in the documentation belongs to someone else. Although the assistant recognizes that the signatures on the document are hers, she highlights that the electronic signatures were collected by the company at the time of hiring.
Since Monday the 14th, the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police has been carrying out Operation Verum to carry out search and seizure and arrest warrants, one of them against Jacqueline, at addresses in Nova Iguaçu and the capital of Rio de Janeiro. Yesterday, Walter Vieira, appointed as a partner in the laboratory, and Ivanilson Fernandes dos Santos, another technician responsible for the reports, were arrested.
In parallel to the operation, the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro, the Ministry of Health and the Regional Council of Medicine have been conducting investigations since the incident was reported. PCS Lab Saleme was also closed last week.
Understand the case
In an unprecedented case in the history of Brazilian public health, six patients waiting for transplants in Rio de Janeiro tested positive for the HIV virus after receiving organs from two HIV-positive donors.
The tests that confirmed the health of the organs were carried out by PCS Lab Saleme, a private laboratory contracted in an emergency tender in December 2023. The contract, worth 11 million reais, was signed for the company to carry out serological tests on the organs donated.
PCS Lab Saleme, located in Nova Iguaçu, Baixada Fluminense, belongs to Matheus Sales Teixeira Bandoli Vieira, cousin of the former Secretary of Health and current federal deputy Doutor Luizinho (PP-RJ). During the bidding, Luizinho was still responsible for the portfolio.
The first case was discovered on September 10, when a transplant patient presented neurological symptoms and, after blood tests, was diagnosed with HIV. He had received a heart in January of this year.
With the suspicion, the authorities revisited the exams of the donated organ and requested a countertest. The collection carried out by the laboratory in January included kidneys, liver, heart and cornea from the same donor, all supposedly negative for the virus. However, other recipients, with the exception of one patient who received the cornea, tested positive for HIV. One of the patients died shortly after the transplant, but his death was attributed to pre-existing complications.
On October 3, another transplant recipient showed symptoms and also tested positive for HIV. This patient had received an organ from another donor, whose examination, carried out on May 25, also did not indicate the presence of the virus.
The State Transplant Coordination and State Health Surveillance have already closed the laboratory. The inspection revealed that the PCS Lab did not have kits to carry out the exams and did not present documents proving the purchase of the necessary materials
In immediate response, SES-RJ transferred all exams carried out by PCS Lab for new testing at Hemorio. In addition, stored genetic material from 286 donors will be reanalyzed, which will allow new data verification.
