Renowned Moroccan Plastic Surgeon Arrested for Human Trafficking, Fraud

Renowned Moroccan Plastic Surgeon Arrested for Human Trafficking, Fraud
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Renowned Moroccan Plastic Surgeon Arrested for Human Trafficking, Fraud

Renowned Moroccan Plastic Surgeon Arrested for Human Trafficking, Fraud

Authorities in Casablanca have arrested famous plastic surgeon Hassan Tazi, his wife, and a number of employees from his clinic on April 2. The doctor is accused of falsifying official documents and embezzling charity money.

The General Prosecution moved the files of the five arrested suspects to the appeal court in Casablanca.

The charges include human trafficking and luring vulnerable people to exploit them in illegal practices, fraud, falsification of official documents, issuance of fake certificates, and illegal increases of medical services’ prices. The doctor and his partners have been also accused of ‘capturing and sharing photos of patients without their consent,” including photos of women who underwent liposuction surgeries posted on Facebook.

The General Directorate of National Security said in a statement that the National Force of Judiciary Police transferred eight people including a woman, a business owner, and a number of employees to the General Prosecution in Casablanca’s Appeal Court, for involvement in fraud, embezzlement, and forgery.

The investigations showed the suspects are involved in forming a criminal group that collects donations from philanthropists for alleged surgeries performed in the clinic where work most of the suspects. They are also accused of illegally increasing the prices of medical services to collect bigger donations, the statement added.

The national security forces arrested the main suspect responsible for contacting patients and exploiting their pictures in donations collection, as well as falsifying bills and medical reports in compliance with other suspects.

The general prosecution conducted a judicial inspection of the eight suspects and decided to keep five of them under arrest and release the rest until their trial.



Ozempic Hailed as 'Fountain of Youth' that Slows Aging

The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)
The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)
TT

Ozempic Hailed as 'Fountain of Youth' that Slows Aging

The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)
The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)

The anti-obesity drug Ozempic could slow down ageing and has “far-reaching benefits” beyond what was imagined, researchers have suggested.

Multiple studies have found semaglutide (available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic) reduced the risk of death in people who were obese or overweight and had cardiovascular disease without diabetes, The Independent reported.

Responding to research published in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology, Professor Harlan M Krumholz from the Yale School of Medicine, said: “Semaglutide, perhaps by improving cardiometabolic health, has far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined.”

He added: “These ground-breaking medications are poised to revolutionise cardiovascular care and could dramatically enhance cardiovascular health.”

Multiple reports also quoted Professor Krumholz saying: “Is it a fountain of youth?”

He said: “I would say if you’re improving someone’s cardiometabolic health substantially, then you are putting them in a position to live longer and better.

“It’s not just avoiding heart attacks. These are health promoters. It wouldn’t surprise me that improving people’s health this way actually slows down the ageing process.”

The studies, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Conference 2024 in London, were produced from the Select trial which studied 17,604 people aged 45 or older who were overweight or obese and had established cardiovascular disease but not diabetes.

They received 2.4 mg of semaglutide or a placebo and were tracked for more than three years.

A total of 833 participants died during the study with 5 percent of the deaths were related to cardiovascular causes and 42 per cent from others.

Infection was the most common cause death beyond cardiovascular, but it occurred at a lower rate in the semaglutide group than the placebo group.

People using the weight-loss drug were just as likely to catch Covid-19, but they were less likely to die from it – 2.6 percent dying among those on semaglutide versus 3.1 per cent on the placebo.

Researchers found women experienced fewer major adverse cardiovascular events, but semaglutide “consistently reduced the risk” of adverse cardiovascular outcomes regardless of sex.

Dr Benjamin Scirica, lead author of one of the studies and a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Harvard Medical School, said: “The robust reduction in non-cardiovascular death, and particularly infections deaths, was surprising and perhaps only detectable because of the Covid-19-related surge in non-cardiovascular deaths.

“These findings reinforce that overweight and obesity increases the risk of death due to many etiologies, which can be modified with potent incretin-based therapies like semaglutide.”

Dr Jeremy Samuel Faust, an emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, praised the researchers for adapting the study to look at Covid-19 when the pandemic started.

He said the findings that the weight-loss drug to reduce Covid-19 mortality rates were “akin to a vaccine against the indirect effects of a pathogen.”