State institutions were prepared neither for the first nor the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Supreme Audit Office (NKU) has stated in a report released on Monday. As early as October, the Office's analysts pointed to the overpriced purchase of medical aids as well as a lack of preparation for the pandemic on the part of the relevant state institutions. The State Material Reserves Administration (SSHR) didn't receive clear instructions on the providing of medical aids until the end of February. Therefore, in the first stage the state was unable to provide necessary aids to hospitals, care homes, or employees engaged in the front line. Despite an inspection, and warnings by the NKU, the warehouses were only 16-percent filled with medical aids. "Reserves for 60 days, as defined in a government resolution, weren't available to the State Material Reserves Administration. It only had reserves for ten days," stated the NKU.
"Two advisory expert bodies should have played a key role in the extraordinary epidemiological situation - the Government's Pandemic Commission and the National Anti-epidemic Commission. In both cases we found that the way in which they operated and their position within the crisis management operation of the state were highly formal; and the anti-epidemic commission, headed by Slovakia's chief hygienist, hasn't met at all since 2019," stated NKU Vice-chair Lubomir Andrassy. The problem was that the Permanent Crisis Committee, whose entire legal powers and scope aren't clearly defined, was actively interfering in the managing of processes, stated the NKU. Therefore, the Office recommends to the Interior Ministry that the system of managing institutions during a state of emergency should undergo a comprehensive analysis. The Ministry has yet to comment on the report.
