[ad_1]
At a time when the coronavirus epidemic continues to pose a major challenge to the Serbian health system, a public procurement of medical equipment is under public scrutiny, led by the Republic Health Insurance Fund (RHIF) as an “emergency” to treat coronavirus infections. RHIF bought the equipment urgently from the PTM company in Sabac, which is owned by the cousin of the provincial health secretary, Zoran Gojković. The acquired medical equipment is used for normal hospital work. Zoran Gojković did not announce the disputed signing.
Laparoscopic column, drainage vials, surgical staplers, state-of-the-art endoscopic video capsules for imaging of the small and large intestine – these were all on the public procurement list performed by the RHIF in an urgent procedure, although the question is which of the above it was “urgent”. Since that medical equipment is not used to treat coronavirus patients?
An even more important question is: how could RHIF acquire equipment worth 200 million dinars from the PTM company, which, according to official APR data, is 100% owned by the cousin of the provincial health secretary, Zoran Gojković?
Nova.rs journalist Ana Lalic, who investigated the case, told H1 that a “corruption issue” was occurring.
“It turned out that the only bidder was PTM from Šabac, who with time and investigation turned out to be the owner of the company – Zorica Šakan in kinship with the Provincial Secretary for Health – Zoran Gojković. We contacted, of course, as always and The Provincial Secretariat of Health and the Ministry of Health, as well as the Anticorruption Agency to answer what kind of family relationships are in question and if there is a conflict of interest, except for a denial by Mr. Gojkovic that they are not born siblings – They didn’t want to answer us, “Lalic says.
Lalić recalls that state officials are obliged to report the kinship relationship to the Anti-Corruption Agency, as well as to the institution announcing the public procurement, in this case to the RHIF. Is that done? From the Provincial Secretary of Health – without answering the H1 questions about the contracting in dispute.
For Nemanja Nenadić of Transparency Serbia, kinship is not the only debatable point in the aforementioned public procurement. Other things, he adds, point to possible corruption.
In other words, in this case a special type of negotiation procedure was applied, which according to the Law can only be carried out when contracting is necessary to protect life and health during epidemics, but practically necessary on a day-to-day basis. , that something must be acquired immediately, without waiting. , without following the next procedure, which would last a week. It is not possible to buy through this supply something that may be needed in seven to ten days, but something that saves lives immediately, ”says Nenadic.
He also thinks it is questionable that only one of the 37 types of products that were acquired had an offer from two companies, which, he says, indicates that the public procurement was rigged or that the bidders divided the market by agreement.
Journalist Ana Lalic claims that shortly after the story she was working on was published, the public procurement was terminated.
Read more news about Kovid-19 and the consequences of the pandemic in the country and the world in the page Coronavirus.
[ad_2]
