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According to the Vilnius City Municipality, the first wave of COVID-19 successfully resisted, but talks about preparing for the second wave have already been delayed; It should have been done much earlier, starting by informing the public about the threats and providing medical equipment over a longer period. Vilnius municipality also publishes all data on purchases of medical protection and treatment equipment, will update them regularly to avoid speculation about over-stock of protective equipment, and recalls the context of how desperate medical protection in the country looked at beginning of the pandemic.
Public mobilization, an early information campaign on hygiene recommendations through Vilnius institutions, responsible compliance with quarantine rules, volunteer assistance and quick and unconventional solutions have gone a long way towards avoiding the consequences extremely tragic from the coronavirus pandemic in the capital and Lithuania. In the south of Europe.
“The first battle against the virus was won, but not the war: the second battle will be more easily won by those who were preparing for the first,” says Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius.
A second successful battle requires data and predictions
“The main challenges in the fight against the COVID-19 virus remain, especially the uncertainty as to when, how big the new wave will be, and what scale measures will be necessary. But we can all rejoice that the first wave is under control. The concentration of people, the dedicated work of the employees of the institutions, private initiatives and, finally, the increase in tests are the reasons that led to avoiding a bad scenario, “says R. Šimašius.
However, according to the mayor, we must also learn from mistakes.
“It just came to our attention then. Without them, we fight the virus with our eyes closed. Without timely planning and timely and accurate information, unfortunately, as in the first wave, there will continue to be a massive and urgent purchase of security measures, which will lead resellers to increase offer prices. With the data, we, as a state, would buy whenever we need it, at a better price, only as much as we need it, and only for as long as we need it, “he says. the mayor of Vilnius.
It is for these reasons that the Municipality of Vilnius wrote yesterday to the Ministry of Health and the State Emergency Operations Center to clarify the forecasts of the spread of the virus, the capacity of the state reserve during the second wave and the provision of medical and medical institutions. in Vilnius.
March uncertainty
According to the mayor, unfortunately, many soon forgot the madness of March, when the work was practically in war conditions: information from medical countries and medical places, stadiums that became open-air hospitals, and in Lithuania we had forecasts of thousands of victims and complete uncertainty about state protection measures. reserve until finally declared empty.
Therefore, at that time, the Vilnius municipality reacted quickly and took action on its own: public procurement began to reach the necessary means and equipment for the doctors and medical institutions of the capital as soon as possible.
“In the face of the crisis, we needed quick solutions, naturally to leave us alone, which is what we did, we bought tools, even in some places to pay more than under normal conditions.” Because the choice was just that: bald antiviral doctors or expensive protective gear. I am glad that at that time no one had questions to choose from, and that they are now being asked by some, a natural desire to show once again our favorite “And I would have treated it differently with the crisis,” says R. Šimašius.
How much and what did the municipality of Vilnius acquire?
The Vilnius city municipality has allocated almost 10 million LTL for the purchase of medical protection equipment and equipment for medical institutions. Euros However, this amount is being adjusted: some measures are delayed, several contracts have already been terminated and there may be more. Also contributed by business representatives and private initiatives worth more than 2 million. euros
In the first weeks, Vilnius provided his acquired means not only to the doctors in the capital, but also to the Vilnius district municipality’s medical institutions, as well as the Kaunas clinics.
During this period, Vilnius acquired and already received the following security measures: 314 thousand. FFP2 respirators, 71 mil. FFP3 respirators, 131 thousand. disposable monkeys, almost 1.3 million. disposable masks, 1.2 million. disposable gloves, almost 16 thousand. disposable bathrobes, more than 368 thousand. glasses and other necessary measures. Most of the tools were bought in China. Around 2.3 million are still expected to arrive. various protection measures: this became even more relevant when the state announced that from June the municipalities would have to provide their medical institutions with all the protection measures.
Due to their quality and compliance with the specified certificates, personal protective equipment for shipments received was sent to Kaunas for inspection in cooperation with scientists and researchers from Kaunas University of Technology.
Artificial lung ventilators were purchased cheaper than the state
In February, in response to information provided by the Ministry of Health that the number of artificial pulmonary ventilation (ART) devices in Vilnius health institutions is insufficient, the municipality of Vilnius urgently initiated the acquisition of IPU devices through unannounced trading procedures in accordance with the Public Procurement Law.
According to the director of the administration, Povilas Poderskis, other state institutions acquired the necessary personal protective equipment and lung ventilation devices not only during the height of their need, when they had to fight in the market, but were often more expensive than the municipality of Vilnius. In mid-March, the Ministry of Health announced plans to buy 400 devices of this type for 35,000. euros
Since the beginning of the quarantine, a total of 25 DPV devices have arrived in the Vilnius municipality, 15 of which have been acquired with municipal funds and 424 thousand. 15 DPV devices were purchased for 28,000 each. Another 10 lung ventilators were purchased and donated to the institutions by commercial representatives.
Some supplier contracts are terminated
“The situation with the supply of doctors at that time was tragic, we constantly received requests for help not only from Vilnius medical institutions, but also from other districts. We have been vigilant in evaluating the offers received, many of them have had to be rejected due to unreliability, excessive price, too long delivery time, and some have to terminate the contracts due to non-compliance, “says P. Poderskis.
Due to non-compliance with delivery deadlines and violations of other conditions, Vilnius terminates 3 contracts with 3 suppliers, of which rapid tests and 10 lung ventilators were purchased during the first quarantine weeks announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The contract with equipment supplier DPV UAB Andrikus is terminated if the latter violates the equipment delivery deadlines specified in the contract, as the practice of most suppliers to prepay for goods in order to guarantee a guarantee To receive them, Vilnius Vilnius did the same. A company has already reimbursed the amount paid in advance, of the remaining two. After the termination of these contracts, almost 623,000 will return to the city budget. euros
Most of the public procurement was carried out by the municipality through unannounced negotiations in accordance with the procedure established by the Public Procurement Law and on the basis of the adopted amendment, which was intended to allow contracting authorities to acquire COVID -19.
Provided until January
Vilnius currently estimates that the need for personal protective equipment and DPV equipment purchased during the first wave, if there were no second wave, would be sufficient by 2021. January. If the second wave arrived in the fall and was greater than the first, the offer would, at best, be sufficient for December this year.
“The state data and forecasts would be very helpful in planning a further fight against the virus. Due to security measures, Vilnius may be calm for some time, but the fight would be much more effective if the entire country concentrated and planned, forecast and acquire security measures together ”, says the mayor of Vilnius.
The Vilnius City Municipality, continuing the open data policy and promoting transparency, constantly opens and updates all data on the acquisitions made by the Vilnius Municipality to fight the COVID-19 virus, and invites all institutions of the country to do it.
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