The treatments, in exchange for money, were carried out in rooms that functioned as “care clinics,” and the detainees even suggested that clients abandon conventional therapies such as chemotherapy.
Two women claiming to be “doctors or health professionals with an appropriate academic title” have been arrested by the Algarve Judicial Police on suspicion of, among other things, qualified fraud, usurpation of functions and aggravated assault on physical integrity with fatal consequences.
In a statement, the PJ reveals that the detainees “proposed and administered effective medical treatments to people living all over the country, including children (some newborns and with indications for specialized pediatric therapy), as well as animals, in exchange for money, promising a cure for a wide range of common and serious diseases, including cancer,” and suggesting that they abandon conventional therapies such as chemotherapy.
The treatments consisted of “drug preparations or supplements not registered or authorized in the national territory, manufactured or manipulated by themselves, some with labels alluding to potentially dangerous compounds, especially if administered to cancer patients”, administered in rooms that functioned as “care clinics”.
“During the police operation, besides having seized an important collection of evidence and several substances presumably dangerous to health, it was possible to identify several patients-victims of these practices, especially cancer patients, some already deceased,” says the note, which adds that the steps of the investigation led by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Olhão had the contribution of elements of Infarmed, the Health Regulatory Authority and a representative of the Order of Psychologists.
It was also found that the detainees “produced, manipulated, fractionated and stored alleged homeopathic and conventional medicinal preparations, some of them injectable” in the clinics.
The detainees will be presented to the first judicial interrogation for the application of coercive measures.
