Ministry Of Health Changes System Of Purchasing Medical Equipment, Pharmaceuticals After ‘Doctors’ Case’

Now they send requests to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB.

Health Minister Valer Malashka called corruption a problem of the last year and promised that the procurement procedure would be made more transparent and understandable. He told about it, communicating with the journalists before the annual board of the Ministry, reports tut.by.

- The problem of the year was corruption. And we will devote special attention to this area at the board, primarily talking about the changes we have made to the regulatory documentation related to the procurement procedure, making it more transparent and understandable for all the subjects of this process.

On June 25, 2018, the KGB chairman Valer Vakulchyk reported that the committee revealed a large-scale corruption scheme in the field of healthcare in Belarus. As the Belarusian president reported on the September 11 meeting dedicated to the problematic issues in the healthcare system, 95 criminal cases were initiated, almost 100 people were under investigation. In the framework of the case, several chief physicians of hospitals, representatives of big business, and high officials were detained.

According to the Ministry of Health, to improve the procedure for procurement of medical products at the expense of the budget, a special regulation has been developed, and the procedure and dates for all procurement stages have been established. It is assumed that this will increase their effectiveness, also through the expansion of the competitive environment.

Also, an instruction was approved on the procedure for planning public procurement, a plan for public procurement of medical products for this year was developed and approved, taking into account the partial decentralization of purchases of certain categories of medical devices. For managers of health organizations, the threshold for independent public procurement procedures has been increased from 500 to 2,000 base fees (today from BYN 12,750 to BYN 51,000).

Electronic auctions and single-source purchases are also monitored.

In addition, they organize public discussions of draft assignments for the purchase of expensive medical products, analyze archive prices for previously conducted purchases, prices for similar equipment in Russia and European countries. At the same time, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassies, they turn to manufacturers about unscrupulous intermediaries and offer to work directly, and with the winners of the tenders are negotiating additional discounts.

After the approval of the results of the purchase of expensive medical equipment, the specialists send inquiries to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB about whether there is information that impedes the conclusion of the contract.