Health Minister Milojka Kolar Celarc intends to tackle the situation on the medical product market, which is being controlled by a number of suppliers who have a strong impact on public tenders. She will discuss the issue with hospital directors at a meeting as well as take care of making the information on prices of all medical products and equipment freely accessible online.

The minister also revealed she had received several threats in the past and reported them to police authorities. They have confirmed two cases of reported threat. However, none of the cases could be officially prosecuted.

Two years for pre-trial procedure
Responsibility for public funds suffering damages due to overpayments of medical products lies with the hospital management, doctors, and offices for public tenders. However, police authorities that carried out attention-grabbing investigations two years ago and found signs of corruption and connections between suppliers, doctors and hospital managements, have not yet reached concrete conclusions. According to specialised state prosecution, the two-year-old case is still in its pre-trial phase.

The national assembly is also determined to address corruption in the healthcare system: an investigative committee has been founded to examine the overpayments of vascular stents, the evidence has been gathered, and hearings are underway. However, the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) has found no violations in purchases of stents, adding that hospitals are very resourceful in funding loopholes in the law.

Nataša Markovič, Petra Prešeren and Gregor Drnovšek, TV Slovenija; translated by K. Z.