State undersecretary of Rio de Janeiro points out illegalities and asks for annulment of hospital contracts for the treatment of covid-19
In Rio de Janeiro, the Legal Undersecretary of the State Health Secretariat of the state, Felipe de Melo Fonte, found illegalities in the choice of entities to be responsible for the administration of the two state hospitals that will be a reference in the treatment of people with Covid-19.
The request for annulment by Fonte was made because the deadlines stipulated in the notice for receipt of proposals were not respected.
The selection of locations took place one day after publication in the Official Gazette. According to the rules, the stipulated deadline was two days for the presentation of the projects. It was estimated that the expenditure with the management of the units in the next six months is R$ 91 million. The case was revealed by journalist Ruben Berta's blog.
The dispute for the administration of the state hospitals Zilda Arns, in Volta Redonda, and Anchieta, in the capital, was won by Imaps (Association for the Protection of Maternity and Childhood of Mutuípe) and by Idab (Instituto Diva Alves do Brasil).
Refutation
The undersecretary spoke shortly after refuting the results of the two disputes made by the Solidarity Institute, which found the irregularities. Fonte pointed out in his opinions that “not even the invoked emergency context authorizes the execution of administrative contracts riddled with vice”.
“There is an irremediable flaw in the selection procedure, namely: the internal contradiction within the public notice regarding the deadline for delivering the documentation of those interested in participating in the bidding process, a flaw pointed out even by the applicant in the document that gave rise to the opening of this administrative file,” wrote Fonte, state attorney.
According to the undersecretary, disrespect for the edict prevented the participation of most of those interested in administering the hospitals. The attorney also said in his opinion that the public notice of the dispute was not submitted to the Legal Subsecretariat. This situation is contrary to state decree.
Executive undersecretary Gabriell Neves coordinated the bidding. And it was also with whom Mariana Scardua, former undersecretary for the Management of Comprehensive Health Care, had disagreements before being exonerated.
Scardua commanded the subfolder that was responsible for managing the state's health units. This included bed regulation, protocols on medication management, among other activities closely related to facing the pandemic.
The State Department of Health stated that the exoneration was due to a change in the structure of the portfolio, in order to return efforts to combat the new coronavirus.
The folder did not comment on the opinion of the legal undersecretary.
