The Court of Auditors (TdC) detected illegality in two hospital clothing treatment contracts signed by the Alto Minho Local Health Unit (ULSAM), which required prior inspection for exceeding the defined amount allowed by law.
At issue, according to a report by the Court of Auditors, are two contracts for the purchase of hospital care treatment services signed by ULSAM in 2018, worth more than 1.1 million euros and another, in 2019, more 1.2 million euros.
According to the decision of the TdC, dated January, published on the 3rd on the website of the Court of Auditors, and today consulted by Lusa, the judges point to the existence of signs of “illegalities in the execution of the protocols and identifies those responsible”, recommending to ULSAM “strict compliance with all related legal regulations”.
“There is no question of, nor is there any doubt about, the need to acquire the services in question for the normal functioning of ULSAM and that they must be provided in a continuous and uninterrupted manner. However, this need has to be met with respect for the principle of legality to which all activity, whether public administration or public business entities, is subject ”, says the 40-page document, also sent to the Minister of Health and the Public ministry.
In the written response to a request for clarification from Lusa, ULSAM’s management indicates today that “in time, it exercised its contradictory, pointing out and highlighting the fundamentals according to which it understands to have acted with due legality and property”.
“The circumstances related to the constraints on available human resources, hotel services and ULSAM supply were not exempt, which is why the contracts could only be sent to the TC on the respective dates, which the latter considered as late”, says the clarification.
In the decision, the judges of the TdC refer that “one of the legal requirements so that the protocols can be executed, whether material (since they were granted with a value greater than 950,000 euros) or financial, is its previous subjection to prior inspection of the TdC and the granting of the respective visa, which must legally occur before any effect is produced ”.
In the report on the action to determine the financial responsibility of the two contracts for the purchase of hospital treatment services signed by ULSAM, the president of the board of directors, two executive members, the clinical director for care, are “indicted for the practice of the infraction”. primary care, clinical director for hospital care and nurse director.
“In the specific case, the unlawful acts were carried out by the board of directors, which, being the competent body to adjudicate and authorize the expenses in question (…) allowed the illegal execution of both protocols, namely before the pronouncement of the TdC, in prior inspection, since they could never, therefore, have been sent and assessed by the TdC before January 1, 2018 and 2019, respectively ”, the document reads.
In reply to Lusa, the ULSAM administration states that in the contradiction to the TdC “it is also recalled that all formalities were completed, so that the TdC understood – as it understood – to target the respective contracts, which would hardly happen in the face of of any manifest illegality, ULSAM not having made any payment before the TdC visa ”.
“The board of directors has always proceeded and will proceed in order to safeguard users, since the theme of hospital clothing (which necessarily includes the uniform of clinical and non-clinical staff, hospital bed linen such as sheets, towels and block linen, etc.) is essential for the correct operation of services and for the provision of health care ”, he stresses
The ULSAM administration adds that “it will wait with serenity for the moment of pronouncement on the matter, when it will evaluate the institutional position and the one that each of its members will adopt, being that in a generalized way it does not see the matter more than a mere question of deadlines for sending documentation to the TdC justified by the circumstances described in the contradictory ”.
In the clarifications it provided to the TdC, ULSAM justified that “the provision in question is vital and essential to the maintenance of the assistance capacity, and cannot be interrupted in any way, being closely linked to the production of the Local Health Unit in essential services for users and the maintenance of the right to life and health ”.
ULSAM said that for “the service in question there are no possible alternatives”, being that “within the management options that it assists, ULSAM strategically opted for the lease of hospital clothes, with no other operator on the market able to replace the contractor in this specific service provision ”.
“The provision of services in question is vital / crucial to the operation of hospitals and health centers, as without it, the provision of care for the entire population of Alto Minho is immediately hindered, as the assistance capacity of ULSAM has become unviable, he said.
For ULSAM, “without that provision of services, the two hospitals and 13 health centers could not function, since it is a provision that provides and treats the various types of hospital clothing, from surgical clothing (operating rooms) to uniforms professionals and the so-called general clothes, provided to all patients admitted to both hospitals, namely bed linen and towels ”.
Created in 2009, ULSAM integrates the Santa Luzia hospital, in Viana do Castelo, the Conde de Bertiandos hospital, in Ponte de Lima, 13 health centers, a public health unit and two convalescence units, and serves a higher resident population to 244 thousand people, with 2,500 professionals, including 501 doctors and 892 nurses.
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