© Georgi Kozhukharov
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All documents collected in the case of the National Children’s Hospital were sent to the specialized prosecutor’s office. The company selected to build the hospital was instructed to return the sums paid in advance, as well as to terminate the contract. The director of the State Investment Company Ivan Alexiev and the board of directors will be released. This was announced by the Minister of Health Stoycho Katsarov during a hearing in the National Assembly.
Government hospital to become a national pediatrics
Katsarov proposed that part of the Lozenets hospital, known as the “government” hospital, be used temporarily as a children’s hospital. According to him, the hospital is not needed in this form: it is multidisciplinary, luxuriously equipped, has a park, students will be trained – Katsarov stressed its advantages and asked the deputies to discuss this possibility. He described the current conditions under which children are treated: “in rooms of 6-7 square meters, with two beds, no air conditioning, no bathroom, with a sink, which, when you turn on the tap, sprays on the child’s sheet, and mothers sleep in a chair in the hallway to be close to their children. ” “This is the biggest crime that has been committed,” the health minister commented.
You can read more about the obstacles around the construction of the children’s hospital here and here.
The idea for the construction of a National Children’s Hospital was launched in 2004. In 2011 a detailed development plan (DDP) for the area of the entire Medical Academy came into force with the planned construction of a new building for a children’s hospital with a height of 20 meters. In 2018, GERB proposed that Lozenets Hospital become a pediatrician, but the idea was rejected, and in 2019 the Ministry of Health announced a public tender for a children’s hospital related to the unfinished building, whose rough construction has been “frozen” for decades. In 2020, a contract was signed with a contractor – the consortium “Children’s Health” led by the construction company “Glavbolgarstroy”, which, however, provides for the reconstruction of the existing building, not its demolition.
After lasting for months dissatisfaction of civil society organizations, doctors and architects a year ago the former prime minister Boyko Borissov ordered the scaffolding to be demolished and construction to start “fresh”. The then Minister of Health Kiril Ananiev announced that regardless of the new conditions, the hospital will be built within the framework of the already concluded contract. Now, however, the official team of the Ministry of Health has found grounds to terminate the contract in “the expressed position of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Worksthat it is inadmissible to elaborate a detailed development plan for settling the urban status of the unfinished construction “.
On July 5, the Ministry of Health requested from its company “Health Investment Company for Children’s Hospital” EAD, to which in 2020 the responsibility for the construction of the children’s hospital was transferred, to terminate the contract with the consortium “Children’s Health” within one month. known from a post on the Facebook page of the National Civil Initiative “FOR a real children’s hospital”. At the end of July, however, the executive director of the construction company Glavbolgarstroy, Maya Pencheva, told Dnevnik that the consortium has not been notified of the termination of the contract with the Ministry of Health. Today, it became known from Katsarov’s words that the state investment campaign has refused to terminate the contract, so its management will be released (see below).
“The contract is null and void, it has been left without a subject. It cannot be fulfilled in the form in which it was concluded,” Katsarov stressed today, adding that no penalties are due under it. According to him, the money paid in advance (BGN 9 million) will be returned to the state, “but we cannot return the lost time – two years.” According to him, if the procedure starts again, it will take 6-7 years. This opinion was also expressed by the participants in public discussion “National Children’s Hospital in Bulgaria in the context of good European and world practices”, organized by “Democratic Bulgaria” at the beginning of the month.
Today, Minister Katsarov pointed out that the Sofia and regional administrations have explained to him that within the ring road of Sofia it is not possible to provide suitable terrain for a future children’s hospital.
The ministry has provided the documents regarding the case to the prosecutor’s office
All documents collected in the case of the National Children’s Hospital have been sent to the specialized prosecutor’s office for inspection, announced Stoycho Katsarov. “We have sent all the materials in the case to the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for inspection in case of establishment of data for violation of official duties of all officials involved in the case – Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Minister of Health Ananiev, Minister of Health Angelov and members of the board of directors of the two companies, “he said.
In response to a question posed by the former Minister of Health Kiril Ananiev (GERB), how will the BGN 9 million paid in advance by the contractor Katsarov assure that the money will be returned in full, because no activities were carried out, but activities have not been carried out because there is no design visa. “The first refusal to issue a design visa was made by your government – GERB. There is no policy here, there is a scheme that was originally known that a children’s hospital could not be implemented. This is the ugly finale of this picture, in which you, Mr. Ananiev, were, willingly or unwillingly, a participant, “Katsarov said. “The entire political responsibility for the lack of a children’s hospital lies entirely with GERB, which has ruled for 12 years,” said Georgi Angelov of the BSP from the rostrum.
The management of the State Investment Company will be released
The director of The state investment company Ivan Alexiev and the board of directors will be released, Health Minister Stoycho Katsarov said during a hearing in the National Assembly. The reason for this is that the State Investment Company refuses to terminate the contract concluded with the Children’s Health Consortium for the construction of a national children’s hospital and to reimburse the amounts paid in advance – BGN 9 million, explained Minister Katsarov.
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