Health Minister Accepts Donation of 18 Operating Tables
Health Minister Andrej Brucan has decided to accept the offer of a Ljubljana-based medical supplies company for a donation of 18 operating tables with all the necessary equipment to five Slovenian hospitals.
Brucan made his decision after meeting representatives of Medicoengineering on Thursday, with an agreement to be signed as soon as possible. After a deal is signed, the ministry will in Frantar's words order the operating tables and the equipment in line with the last public tender, which however was annulled last week by the National Review Commission.
Medicoengineering decided to make the offer because they were fed up with complications regarding the procurement of operating tables, which have severely hampered work in particular at the Ljubljana Institute of Oncology.
The market price of 18 operating tables of the company Maquet stands at around SIT 500m (EUR 2.1m). Medicoengineering has therefore asked other companies to help, and some of them have already agreed to that, among them Diners Club International, Frantar revealed.
In line with the agreement, which is to be signed as soon as this week or at the beginning of next week at the latest, the Health Ministry will have no financial or other obligations in this deal, according to Brucan.
Frantar meanwhile ensured that the equipment will be installed within six weeks after the deal is signed, with the Ljubljana Institute of Oncology first in line to get the operating tables.
The two parties moreover agreed today that Medicoengineering will issue a three-year guarantee for the purchased equipment, although Maquet's operating tables have a two-year guarantee, as Igor Zabret of Medicoengineering said.
While Medicoengineering's offer was welcomed in general, Brucan and Prime Minister Janez Jansa stressed that this was not a long-term solution to the problem of public tenders in the health sector.
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