Filenews 5 November 2021 - by Vassos Vassiliou
It is not enough that taxpayers paid more than €61 million for testing in the context of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, some clinical laboratories attempted to collect from the state €400,000 more than their share, as shown by what the General Director of the Ministry of Health, Christina Giannaki, said yesterday before the Parliamentary Audit Committee.
She also complained of bullying by businessmen, who demanded that they collect without first completing the inspection of invoices. She further announced that "as a result of the audit that has been carried out, there have been cuts of a total value of €400,000". This was not the only attempt to fool the state, if it is taken into account that a mobile unit appeared at the same time to carry out tests at the Port of Limassol, the city of Limassol and in a mountainous community.
According to the data submitted to the Parliament, the cost paid as payment for the crews that carried out the rapid tests amounted until 30/9/2021 to €21,399,522. The cost of purchasing the rapid tests amounted until 30/9/2021 to €20,122,166. The cost of conducting molecular tests amounted until 30/9/2021 to €16.708382, while the amount of €2.8 million was paid as payment to the Institute of Neurology and Genetics as part of the tracing.
Reflecting in figures the cost of molecular tests, Mrs. Yiannaki mentioned that from 3/4/2020 until 30/9/2021, 227,333 tests were performed for a cost of €16,708,382. The tests were conducted by 13 laboratories with the first receiving (in a year and a half) approximately €7.5 million. (€7,402,837) and the last €78.070. It is worth noting that the laboratory that received €7.5 million. from molecular tests, received another €5,579,741 for rapid tests through mobile units, collecting a total of €12,982,578.
Molecular tests were also carried out by the Institute of Genetics. In total, the Institute conducted 250,000 tests for €2.2 million.
As Mrs. Yiannaki said, for the conduct of 9,094,365 rapid test, the ministry paid €21,399,522. If we add to this the €16,708,382 for molecular tests, the amount is €38,107,904. This amount does not include the cost of purchasing the tests from importers who were then made available to laboratories for carrying out the tests. €2.8 million is also not included which was given to the Institute of Genetics for testing.
The rapid tests involved 37 private companies of which five were paid in excess of €1 million each. The average of each rapid test was €2.35. As explained by the director of the Ministry of Health, initially each test cost €5 while today it was limited to €1.16.
The State purchased a total of 20,122,166 rapid tests (from importers) for €9,976,080 with the average purchase being €2 per test. As she explained, with the completion of the current contract which provide for the purchase of 3,000,000 tests at a price of €1.16 each, the average (from the beginning of the program) will be €1.85 per test. The most expensive company sold 479,000 rapid tests to the state for €2,335,650, which corresponds to €4.88 per test.
It is worth noting that based on the numbers of tests performed, on average, there are about 10 tests for each resident of Cyprus.
Mrs. Yiannaki pointed out that, due to the ministry's handling, savings of €4.3 million were made to which, as she mentioned, should be added the free rapid test, with a total value of €2 million which brings savings to €6.3 million. She said the EU provided Cyprus with 472,300 tests.
"Some have won a lot"
The Auditor General, Odysseas Michaelides, who had also prepared a relevant report, said that "when the Audit Office said that the tariff of €110 set by the former Minister of Health for molecular tests was excessive, some argued that we were unreasonable. We had relied on the fact that the purchase of consumables was below €40 and in the process we were vindicated, since today molecular tests cost the state €15," he said. He also referred to a company that received 27% of the pie from rapid tests. He also noted that from the outset the profit margin of the laboratories involved was very large.
"In the time of the pandemic, some people have come out very profitably," he said, adding that there is a company that made a turnover of about €12 million.
However, the Auditor General, in addition to his criticism of the setting of the tariff for molecular tests at €110 at the beginning of the pandemic, said that the procedures followed in emergency conditions were legitimate, since in many cases there were no time limits for open tenders.
On the part of MPs, both the chairman and members of the Audit Committee acknowledged the work done towards preventing the squandering of public money.
Giannakis: We did everything we could
The director general of the ministry of health, mentioned among other things the following:
-The lowest price awarded for conducting molecular tests is €15 while in the initial contracts the price per test was €110.
-Until 30/09/2021, 12 economic operators have carried out Covid-19 molecular tests, with a total cost of €16,708,382 including the cost of the contracts for the tests carried out at Larnaka and Paphos airports. The number of tests carried out, outside airports, is 227,333.
-It is noteworthy to mention that, while the average price for all rapid test competitions, from the beginning until today is €2.70 per sampling, however, the Ministry with the proper management of mobile units, i.e. where possible, with the placement of the cheapest mobile units, in places of high traffic, achieved a reduction of the average price to €2.35.
-As regards the tenders for the procurement of rapid antigen tests, the Ministry of Health has conducted 17 tenders, of which 13 were in the process of negotiation.
-In October 2020, for the 1st tender with an estimated cost of €200,000, the price per rapid antigen detection test was €5, while over time and the increase of competition, the last awarded contract worth €3.5 million. was done at the price of €1,16/test. Within the framework of negotiations conducted in several tenders, the reduction of the total price of the contractors was achieved, in the context of the evaluation process of the tenders, resulting in savings of €1.5 million.
