HEALTH Minister Viliam Čislák dismissed three of four heads of state-run hospitals which signed the dubious agreements with two interconnected companies over the food catering worth €81 million including VAT for the following 10 years. The case will also cost Martin Senčák his post of head of the service department at the Health Ministry, the Sme daily reported in its December 11 issue.
In addition to this, Čislák also dismissed head of the state-run hospital in Košice for cleaning services ordered without arranging public competition, Sme wrote.
Čislák informed about the dismissals after his meeting with Prime Minister Robert Fico. Smer MP Vladimír Baláž will have to leave his post in the Banská Bystrica hospital, while Martin Tabaček will resign from his function in Trnava and Jozef Tekáč from his position in Poprad (all of them are nominees of Smer). Danka Kaššovicová, head of the Trenčín hospital which also ordered the catering services, will not be dismissed as the agreement was signed by her predecessor Ján Dubovský, Sme wrote.
“The agreements were signed at odds with the law as they should have been approved by the government,” Čislák said, as quoted by Sme. This rule applies to concessionaire agreements worth more than €5 million.
The story was broken by Sme and Transparency International on December 8. The daily wrote that the four hospitals will pay external caterers (interconnected companies Hospital Catering Solutions and Dora Gastro Slovensko) almost €81 million including VAT for 10 years. In comparison, some hospitals with private owners may pay as little as half as much, according to Sme. The one who pointed to the purchases was MP Miroslav Beblavý.
“From the view of the ministry the agreements do not exist and specific people are responsible for violating the law,” Čislák said, as quoted by Sme.
Senčák has also been criticised for several weeks for his inactivity in the case of the overpriced purchase of a CT scanner by the Piešťany hospital.
Except for these four people, the minister also dismissed Ladislav Rosoch, head of the state-run University Hospital of Louis Pasteur for another case. He ordered the cleaning services not via public procurement, as it is required by the law, but only after market review, Sme wrote.
Source: Sme
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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