Office for Combating Organised Crime Dealing with Ambulance Service Tender

Bratislava, 20 August (TASR) - The Office for Combating Organised Crime (UBOK) is dealing with the tender for operating ambulances of the emergency medical service (EMS), Peter Habara from the Police Corps Presidium has confirmed for TASR. It was the tvnoviny.sk website that broke the news first. "The Office for Combating Organised Crime is looking into the case, but it is not possible to provide more information at the moment," said Habara. The tender for ambulance service licences was criticised both by the opposition and the coalition Slovak National Party (SNS). Health Minister Kamil Sasko asked the Prosecutor-General's Office to investigate the legality of the tender process. The tender was officially cancelled last Wednesday (13 August) by the Emergency Medical Services Operations Centre. Expert analyses are intended to show how the operation of ambulance services could be set up in the best way possible, with three options presented to date - the nationalisation of ambulance services, priority rights granted to the state and public organisations to operate ambulance services, and integrating ambulances into a so-called integrated rescue system. am/df