The sweltering heat in the room was not the only reason why minister Šaško needed to mop his brow from time to time. (source: Marko Erd, SME)
Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. The health minister is in hot water over a €2-billion health-sector tender that he claims is nothing to do with him. Earlier this year, Fico and his acolytes branded a Georgian activist a dangerous “coup plotter” and said they would “ban” him from the country – but he’s been spotted strolling freely about Bratislava. Kočner’s lawyers seek a get-out-of-jail card for their client, via the European courts.
If you have a suggestion on how to make this overview better, let me know at michaela.terenzani@spectator.sk.
Controversy over multi-billion-euro tender threatens health minister’s position
Some people might have hoped it would be a quick deal, closed in the middle of the summer holidays when the public pays less attention than usual. But experience has taught watchdogs to be alert when the Health Ministry reissues licences for ambulance stations.
Over the past few weeks, suspicions have grown that the selection of companies to operate the ambulances that provide emergency services around the country was manipulated – so much so that Prime Minister Robert Fico has started personally calling on his own health minister, Kamil Šaško of Hlas, to answer all questions and make sure everything is in order.
So far, he has not been able to do so despite the fact that – as he repeatedly stressed during a press conference on Friday – that he had returned early from holiday to handle the situation. By the end of the day it looked more like the situation was going to handle him.
What the tender is about
The last time the 6-year ambulance licences were issued, in 2019, a newcomer to the market, Life Star Emergency, was startlingly successful in the tender. It later turned out that people with ties to the company happened to be sitting on the commission that picked the winners. The then health minister, Andrea Kalavská, a Smer nominee, even turned to the criminal prosecution bodies, without substantial results.
Six years later, LSE is not participating in the tender for 344 emergency service points – i.e. the network of ambulance stations around Slovakia. The tender is being organised by the Operational Centre of the Emergency Services, an organisation that operates under the Health Ministry.
Running the ambulances that bring first responders to people who have suffered heart attacks or been injured in car accidents is a profitable business. In the course of the six years for which the licences are issued, the operators of hundreds of ambulances and seven helicopters will be paid approximately €2 billion for their services. The first of four current licences expires at the end of this month.
Many questions
The potential profits make it an interesting prospect even for big players in the health-care business. Two state-run ambulance services, one in the west and one in the east, typically occupy a large portion of the market. But the rules of the tender allow each operator to control no more than 25 percent of the network – a maximum of 86 ambulance points. There are hints that some may have tried to circumvent that rule.
