The ambulance service tender was scrapped in a lawful manner, Health Minister Kamil Šaško (Hlas-SD) stated at a press conference on Wednesday, assuring that the expiring licences for the operation of emergency medical service stations can be extended.
At the coalition council on Thursday, he also wants to initiate a debate on the preferential right of state and public organisations to provide ambulances. Private companies will only be able to compete for those ambulances that these organisations will not have the interest or capacity to take. However, he said public procurement must be more transparent and regulated in law. "We are working intensively on this legal change, which must adjust many other imperfections that have also become apparent during this process," he noted.
Opposition party PS is open to discussing a proposal to nationalise the emergency medical services system, but the party believes the first step must be to ensure transparency in the latest ambulance service tender, according to MP Oskar Dvorak (PS).
“There are clearly two options here. The first is that the law must be amended and made more transparent. If we want to keep the current system, it must be significantly more transparent and aligned with European regulations, which is what the Public Procurement Authority says as well. The second thing is that if we want to discuss future changes — we are open to that debate, but the first step must be to make the upcoming tender as transparent as possible," said the MP.
Whether the state could effectively manage the ambulance services depends on several factors, he noted. “It also depends on whether the state has the capacity, how quickly it can be ready, whether it can recruit enough paramedics, whether it can quickly purchase ambulances, what share it should have – whether we’re talking about 100 percent or three quarters – and whether the operator should be a hospital or a rescue service. There are a lot of questions that need to be clarified," Dvorak concluded.
On Saturday (August 9), the Slovak National Party (SNS) announced that, due to a non-transparent two-billion-euro tender for ambulance station operations, it would propose placing the entire rescue system under state control. According to SNS, this would result in financial savings. The party hopes the proposal will be supported by coalition partners Hlas-SD and Smer-SD.
Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated that it is possible to extend the licences of current service providers temporarily, allowing sufficient time to consider further steps.
Source: TASR
