Commissions by way of extensions in hospitals

The companies dealing with the management and transportation of hazardous hospital waste are unwittingly revealing a systematic violation of the rules for awarding contracts, with continuous extensions of competitions in favour of “our guys”.

Denouncing the financial dead-end faced by the industry due the stoppage of payments announced by public hospitals, the companies confirmed for the first time a veritable feast of money squandering going on in hospital units around the country during the past years. 

The commissions practice

«Nearly all the hospitals applied the practice of commission renewals for longer periods than initially agreed on, so that our companies often come up against the refusal of the Commissioners Court to validate the demands for payment of our invoices", eight companies managing hazardous medical waste (EIA) report, describing with the gloomiest colors the current state of the industry, and argue that the cessation of payments by hospitals is a major threat for public health.

It is significant that the only competition that was carried out in 2008 with all the legal proceedings in place and while there were ratifying decisions by the Council of State, never reached the stage of signing the commission! «So, the inaction of the then-leadership of the ministry meant that we were all prey to the extensions», say representatives from the industry.

They have kept quiet so far

The thing is that in recent years, and while the money flowed freely, nobody in the hospitals had dared to denounce these irregular procedures that used makeshift competitions of 45.000 euros to award projects which exceeded 1 million with the extensions! Nobody did so because they were all part of the system.

The weaknesses of these contracts were described in the findings which have been sent to the prosecutor of environmental inspectors and public administration since last summer. The findings also included all the irregular proceedings in the loose system of public procurement.

All this damning evidence emerged from the audits of inspectors in public hospitals and regards the entire chain of hazardous hospital waste. Typical of the situation are the reports about the tricks used in weighing hospital waste, which were of a different weight at the point of production, and then became "lighter" on their way to incineration!

The investigation is under way and fines have been implemented

The investigation is not over yet. Information indicates that new findings by the environmental inspectors are under way, which will attribute responsibilities and omissions to the entire network of hospital waste management, from production to final deactivation. «We spend a lot of money on waste management, but nobody knows where it goes», says an experienced auditor.

The inspectors have already imposed fines on many public and private hospitals both for waste management and a lack of environmental permits. Apotefrotiras SA, the company which has undertaken the incineration of EIA on the premises of the Ano Liosia landfill, is under the microscope for various environmental violations.

A major question also remains as to the vast quantities of toxic ash outside the plant, which should have been transported abroad. The hospitals focused on by the investigation are: Attikon, Evangelismos, Alexandra, Aghios Savas, Elpis, Metropolitan, etc., while fines have been imposed on the hospitals of Rhodes and Pyrgos.