Matulas on the medical scandal: when I was still working as a doctor, I saw for myself what was happening

The president of the Seimas Health Affairs Committee, Antanas Matulas, at the fair Delphi Day he says the mere fact that there are such a large number of suspects is disgraceful.

“In fact, it is good that the services are doing their job, the circle of suspects is very large, which also surprises me a lot. It is to be hoped that all these accusations may not be confirmed, but the fact is shameful enough to have to sit down with the Ministry of Health and other services to think about improving the Public Procurement Law, since it was thought that contracting centralized. They solve many stories that various things happen, that the same purchase of rapid antigen tests in the previous ministry, when apparently bought at a higher price, shows that the centralized purchase also raises suspicions, but the fact itself is very embarrassing , it will have to work. again to explain how to ensure a stricter control, and the services record these facts, which means that the services are working ”, says A. Matulas.

Ensures that the situation is not normal

When asked if this situation was at least somewhat surprising, A. Matulas also recalled the beginning of his work, when his older colleagues tried to teach about “certain schemas.”

“I started working as a chief physician many years ago and as a young physician at the time, I was surprised by the willingness of some of my colleagues to explain the schemes that work to a young colleague. I know that these schemes worked in the past, I had informed the services and imagined that now such things did not exist, but unfortunately we see that there are suspicions. It is to be hoped that there is no scale that forces us to make revolutionary decisions in the contracting of the health system ”, assured the interlocutor.

According to him, the current situation is not normal.

“It just came to our attention then. With centralized purchasing, it is abnormal when, for example, large institutions, as they did a few years ago, buy food and pay significantly more than smaller institutions that buy less. Like I said, no It is normal “.

Currently, 35 people have been charged with various crimes of corruption, four of whom are heads of private companies and six are heads of medical institutions.

According to the STT, more than a hundred crimes are being investigated. It is suspected that they may have involved more than a dozen medical institutions from different municipalities, their managers and other people responsible for public procurement.