A doctor in Granada has been arrested for allegedly stealing a portable, echograph machine from a hospital in Almería in April 2014.

Staff at the Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca in the city of Murcia reported the theft at the time and nothing was heard of the missing instrument, valued at 18,000 euros, for over over two years, until the hospital received a phone call to say that the machine had been repaired and was ready for collection.

Taken aback, the Head of the hospital contacted the police, who in turned contacted the caller; a company in Madrid that specialises in the distribution and maintenance of medical instruments. They informed the police that the machine had been sent to the Netherlands for repair after it had been handed in at their Sevilla office. This provincial branch had received the echograph machine from a doctor in Granada.

Police investigations revealed that the said doctor had been working in the Murcia hospital around the time that the machine had disappeared and that his position their gave him access to it.

At this point the police decided to arrest the doctor and confiscate the machine.

(News: Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucía)