The purchase of protective equipment and medical equipment during the pandemic was carried out with numerous violations.
This is evidenced by the audit of the compliance of the management and use of resources intended to overcome and combat COVID-19 in the healthcare system, which was prepared by the Accounts Chamber. The auditors reviewed the financial management process during the planning, assessment, awarding, execution of public procurement contracts during the state of emergency in the country and later. The relevant ministries and departments, about 40 medical institutions, SanFarm-Prim JSC and 5 economic agents were checked. The auditors identified violations during both centralized procurement and procurement through direct negotiations, as well as stated ineffective and non-transparent waste of funds. During the state of emergency (March 17-May 15, 2020), were initiated state purchases of protective equipment for medical institutions of the country. The preliminary estimate of expenditures was 190 million lei, but due to savings in funds, purchases were made only for 147 million lei. As a result, the acquired means of protection were not enough for the entire period of the emergency, and medical institutions were allowed to independently purchase medicines, equipment and protective equipment and spend funds only on urgent needs. However, some inter-agency did not optimize costs and spent non-urgent expenditures, for example, for maintenance and major repairs in the amount of 1.5 million lei. When the equipment was delivered to one of the inter-agency where people with moderate and severe forms of coronavirus were treated, the economic agent did not register the equipment with the Medicines Agency and did not provide it within the required time frame. Herewith, the supplier applied a trade markup in the amount of 61% of the cost of the equipment (+685 thousand lei), although the Accounts Chamber draws attention to the fact that the trade markup for medical devices is not limited. Centralized for the health system, 30 state purchases were carried out, during which contracts were concluded for the purchase of goods to fight the pandemic worth 338 million lei, but for various reasons 45 million lei were not used. At the SanFarm-Prim warehouses, where all centrally purchased goods were stored for subsequent distribution to medical institutions in the country, at the end of 2020, there were stocks of goods for 13 million lei. At the request of the auditors, part of the medicine stocks worth 2 million lei were distributed among hospitals. In 10 medical institutions, have been formed stocks of drugs that are ineffective for the treatment of COVID-19 at 623 thousand lei. The auditors of the Accounts Chamber presented specific cases of violations during procurement and implementation of contracts. Thus, in one of the cases of procurement of protective screens and respirators, the price offer of the economic agent and the timing of the contract were not discussed, as a result of which 7.7 million lei was ineffectively spent, and supplies were provided at a time convenient for the economic agent. Within the framework of the centralized state procurement procedure for 38 ultrasound devices in the amount of 11 million lei, the working group determined the winner of the competition, who submitted an application with erroneous technical characteristics; in the case, the purchase of mobile X-ray units in the amount of about 4.5 million lei was unjustifiably canceled; the purchase of 90 thousand protective overalls (for 6.4 million lei) was carried out without assessing the needs of medical institutions for them, etc. // 27.07.2021 — InfoMarket
