The Panama Superior Court of Appeals on  Thursday, Mar 1,  upheld the decision of a judge denying conversion of a 15-year jail term to house arrest for Miguel Algandona, ex-assistant of the   Social Security Quality Control Laboratory.

He was sentenced for the massive poisoning after ingestion of Diethylene Glycol, used in cough syrup, which killed hundreds.

the Compliance Judge of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, Hornilda Miranda, had denied the request for the substitution of the penalty on February 21. However, the judge did recognize Algandona's 206 days in prison, for time served,

of the 15 years imposed by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, leaving a penalty of 14 years and 159 days.

At the court hearing, a legal medical evaluation was ordered, which governs impediments to serving his sentence in a penitentiary.