Monitor: Sasko to File Complaints to PG and Zilina District Court over Tender

(TA3, 'V politike', 10 August) Speaking on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday, Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) stated he'll file a complaint to the Prosecutor-General's (PG) Office on Monday (11 August) over the ambulance service tender as well as the Zilina District Court to check possible property connections. Sasko declared that no deal or business will pass through him. According to opposition MP Tomas Szalay (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS), who was also on the show, the ministry didn't handle the tender in terms of management and communication. Sasko claimed that the health minister can't scrap the tender. Only the director of the Slovak Emergency Medical Service Operation Centre, which carries out the entire tender procedure, can do so. He requested all legal possibilities how to proceed and said that he wants to dispel all doubts and if that means the tender must be cancelled, it will be cancelled. Szalay noted that several MPs had warned the minister about the possible problem with the transparency of the tender. "You've underestimated it. This is what we accuse you of, that you underestimated not only the communication but also the management of the whole process and you put it in the hands of someone who messed it up," he stated. Sasko also commented on the proposal of the Slovak National Party (SNS) that the entire rescue system should be state-owned. He wants to discuss this with SNS chairman Andrej Danko at the coalition council. However, he thinks that the system is currently set up correctly, because one half of the ambulances is run by the state and the other by private individuals. Szalay doesn't consider Danko's proposal to be a good one. "Just because something is state-owned doesn't mean it's the best," noted the MP. If there is no competition, Szalay said, the best won't be chosen. Thus, existing ambulance service providers won't' improve because they won't be subject to competition. Nor does he think the state would save money if the entire system were state-run. am