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Savings of € 6.3 million for rapid test and PCR

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Savings of € 6.3 million for rapid test and PCR

Insider / ΚΥΠΕ

The General Director of the Ministry of Health, Christina Giannaki, informed the Parliamentary Control Committee on Thursday about the procedures regarding the rapid test, as well as the purchase of services from mobile units for conducting rapid tests, in the context of the pandemic.

According to Dr. Giannakis through competitive procedures and negotiations with economic operators, the Ministry of Health has succeeded in reducing prices, both for molecular tests and for rapid detection tests, with total savings reaching approximately € 4.3 million and the provision of free quantities of rapid test, with a total value of € 2 million, approximately, ie a total of 6.3 million.

The Director General of the Ministry of Health presented information regarding the procedures followed, for the competitions related to the rapid test, with the members of the Audit Committee praising Ms. Giannaki and her team, talking about “a shining example in the management of public money “.

In her statements after the session, Dr. Giannaki, pointed out that since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the Ministry of Health has been called upon to respond to unprecedented difficulties, but also constantly changing conditions in order to stop the pandemic and maintain public health at safe levels.

“Given the above circumstances, we believe that the Ministry of Health has shown a high degree of preparedness, flexibility and has responded immediately to the challenges that arose despite the fact that the ever-changing and unpredictable course of the pandemic made scheduling work very difficult.” , he stressed.

He added “it is noteworthy that through competitive processes and negotiations with economic operators, the Ministry of Health has succeeded in reducing prices, both for molecular tests and rapid detection tests, with total savings reaching about € 4.3 million and the provision of free quantities of rapid test, with a total value of € 2 million, approximately, ie a total of 6.3 million “.

He further added that COVID-19 pandemic “.

In addition, he said that in the context of the possibilities offered by the legislation and depending on the time that the Ministry had at its disposal to respond, it has so far ensured with maximum transparency the maximum possible competition.

Regarding the tender procedures, he stated at the meeting that the evaluation of the bids is based on the terms of the documents of each tender, following all the legal procedures.

Regarding the tenders for the supply of rapid antigen detection test, he said that the Ministry of Health has conducted 17 tenders, 13 of which were in the process of negotiating with the maximum possible competition, with the approval of the former Minister of Health and the 4 with open competition.

In addition, he added, 472,300 tests were procured from an EU tender.

He pointed out that in October 2020, for the first tender with an estimated cost of € 200,000, the price per rapid antigen detection test was € 5, while over time and with increasing competition, the last contract awarded worth € 3.5 million was made at the price of € 1.16 per test.

Within the framework of negotiations that took place in several tenders, the reduction of the total price of the contractors was achieved, within the framework of the bid evaluation process, resulting in the saving of an amount of € 1.5 million.

Regarding molecular tests, he said that prices were reduced from € 110 in April 2020 to € 15 today.

It is recalled that the Contractors are state-licensed clinical laboratories, which must meet specific specifications, based on the tender documents. The lowest price awarded was € 15 per exam, while in the original contracts the price per exam was € 110.

The Chairman of the Audit Committee, Zacharias Koulias, said that “when one sees the path of prices, one will understand that if there were no responsible people at the helm of the Ministry of Health, the state would be burdened with too many millions”.

“This rise in prices from very high to where it went down is largely due to the Director General of the Ministry of Health and her team,” said Mr. Koulias.

He spoke in support of the US Alliance, but said that maintaining some independence was not the answer.

“It simply came to our notice then. “Through this process, a big party could take place if there were no responsible people and if this proper process was not done, which is a shining example for the management of public money”, he added.

DISY MP, Savia Orfanidou, stated that “it is obvious through the documented data presented by Ms. Giannaki that the Ministry of Health and the Government from the first moment acted quickly and effectively, to address the issue of the pandemic in its overall state , but also especially in the subjects of the tests “.

“And this issue can be seen from the result and from the situation of our epidemiological image even today”, he added.

In addition, he said that DISY congratulates the General Director for “the very correct, meticulous and documented control that he did throughout the pandemic and because he followed the correct procedures within the contracts, which procedures have helped our country in the framework of the pandemic “.

Source: www.philenews.com

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