Sasko: Ambulance Service Tender Will Be Scrapped

Bratislava, 11 August (TASR) - The ambulance service tender will be lawfully cancelled, Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) said in a statement sent to TASR by the ministry spokeswoman Veronika Danicova. The minister claims that according to the first results of the analyses which he requested last week from the Emergency Medical Service Operations Centre (OS ZZS), there was legal uncertainty that could have allowed different interpretation of the legal regulation of the ongoing tender. At the same time, according to him, the transparency of the whole process could have been jeopardised. Sasko said that as of Tuesday (12 August) he'll entrust the OS ZZS management to a new statutory officer, who will take all necessary steps to scrap the tender in the shortest possible time, fully in accordance with the law. "The current system of selecting ambulance operators has been in place in Slovakia for 20 years since the time of [former health] minister [Rudolf] Zajac [2002-2006] and has never been changed. Now it has turned out that this system isn't good, because it failed to prevent suspicions of non-transparency, although the responsibility for it wasn't borne by politicians, but by experts. That's why, as health minister, I'll present a proposal for a new system in the coming days, which we'll discuss with our coalition partners," added Sasko. The minister guaranteed that regardless of recent events, people in Slovakia can count on an ambulance to come to them on time and with qualified staff if needed. The ambulance service tender is being criticised both by the opposition and the coalition Slovak National Party (SNS). The opposition parties tabled on Friday (8 August) a no-confidence motion in Sasko in this regard in Parliament. MPs are expected to discuss the motion on Wednesday (13 August) at an extraordinary session. Sasko declared that he won't allow scandals or "deals". Head of the Emergency Medical Service Operations Centre Marian Povolny resigned on Monday. am/mcs