INEM: “Some alternatives to the problem, according to what I read, seem miraculous”: Pizarro says he warned the Government about the urgency of helicopters
Former Health Minister Manuel Pizarro said today that during his transition from office he warned that it was necessary to respond to the situation of medical emergency helicopters urgently, considering that there is no other solution than to increase the base value of the tender.
Heard at the Parliamentary Health Committee on INEM, at the request of the PSD, Manuel Pizarro said that he drew attention to the need to change the resolution of the council of ministers that defines the values of the competition, in order to be able to increase the base value, since that the January contest “was deserted”.
“I’m even curious to know what alternative solutions will be found. Some of them, according to what I’ve read, are even quite myrific”, he stated.
The former governor said that in consultations carried out with the market, the Government and INEM were convinced that the increase (+60% of the value) that had already been authorized “was enough” to find a company, but that the result of the tender January showed the opposite.
TIAGO PETINGA
“If there is no decision by the end of June [quando terminou o anterior contrato]doctor Luis Meira [ex-presidente do INEM] decided on a direct award”, said the person responsible, recalling the Court of Auditors’ position on this decision.
In August, the Court of Auditors granted approval to the contract by direct agreement with the company Avincis, worth 12 million euros and valid for one year, for the supply of emergency helicopters, but left messages to the guardianship to assign the necessary funds.
By giving the green light to the direct award, the court exempted INEM from responsibilities in this process, also warning the Ministry of Health to ensure in the future the necessary financial conditions for the institute to open a tender with the price in line with the values that are practiced in the market.
Former ruler justifies transfer with PSD/CDS government rule
The former Secretary of State for the Budget Cláudia Joaquim today justified the return of balances from public administration entities, as happened with INEM in 2020, with a State Budget rule introduced in 2015 by the PSD/CDS government.
“The rule that enabled the transfer of INEM balances (…) is a rule of the State Budget. It is not a question of rationality, but of legality”, stated Cláudia Joaquim, who was Secretary of State for the Budget between 15 June 2020 to March 30, 2022, remembering that, in 2015, the Government was PSD/CDS.
The former ruler spoke during the Parliamentary Health Committee, where today she was heard, at the request of the PSD, about the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM), particularly after the former president of the institute said that INEM was forced to transfer to the Ministry of Health 90 million euros in 2020 because of the pandemic and that this affected financial management, namely the renewal of the ambulance fleet.
Questioned by the various parties, the former ruler recalled that, in 2020, when the Assembly of the Republic approved the supplementary budget, “it approved the integration and use of balances from organizations linked to health in the amount of 159 million euros, which included INEM balances” .
Mario João
He further explained that the rule in question defines that the budget execution balances of entities supervised by the Ministry of Health – excluding hospitals, local health units and hospital centers – “are automatically integrated into the ACSS budget” [Administração Central dos Sistemas de Saúde].
Cláudia Joaquim also said that Health is the area in which general revenue balances “are not returned to the State, but integrated into the ACSS”, stressing that this allows for “better budget management each year”.
“This allows the Ministry of Health to manage all needs. (…). This means that, if an entity transferred [para a ACSS]for example, balances of 10 million that it generated, can benefit more, because there are balances carried over from other entities”, he added.
According to the former governor, this allows “to face more flexible management”.
Recalling that “INEM had already returned balances in 2016”, and asked about INEM’s balance transfer orders that came into force before its entry into office, she stated: “I admit that what the orders at the beginning of 2020 did was advance refund”, given the increase in expenses that would be predictable due to the pandemic.
He also argued that the idea that balances are the property of entities “is not compatible with good annual management”. “That’s why there is a concentration of balances in the ACSS and that’s why there are allocations in the Ministry of Finance to cover urgent and urgent revenues”, he added.
The former governor mentioned that there is always, in annual budget management, the possibility of “reinforcing the entities’ budget, for example, for investment” and said that, in relation to INEM, in the years in which she held office, there was no “signal need for a budget with a higher allocation” justifying this situation with “the collection of revenue higher than budgeted and even higher in relation to the expenditure incurred”.
Cláudia Joaquim insisted on the idea that “when balances are generated it means that revenue was greater than expenditure” and recalled that INEM’s balances were around 14 million euros in 2021, 12 million in 2022 and six million in 2023.
Asked about the use, denounced by the former president of INEM, of funds for subscribing to public debt securities, she said that the decision was the responsibility of the institute’s board of directors.
Regarding the possibility that the Government of which he was part could have changed the 2015 rule (at the time of the ‘troika’), he replied: “The Government has the capacity to change rules, but not rules in the State Budget law”.
“Those, only the Assembly of the Republic (…) and I don’t remember suggestions for changes to the wording of this specific rule, which means that there were no proposals [dos outros partidos] of changing this budget management logic”, he concluded.
