Healthcare | Tuesday 20 January, 2015 10:33 am |

The Ministry of Health has suspended 38 contracts from a total of 148 for health-related programs on the suspicion of corruption, sources said.
Sources said the suspicions surrounded 38 contracts worth SR1 billion allocated to fighting the coronavirus. It was found the amount was not spent on preventive measures. The total amount of money spent on the contracts reached SR663 million.
A ministerial order has been issued to form an internal committee to verify these contracts and it has become apparent that some contracts had spent the allocated money in full, according to information revealed by sources.

The Ministry was forced to suspend a training contract for the value of SR8.9 million after discovering that the contracted company had weak outcomes.
A contract signed with a media company for a value of SR1.7 million to manage the ministry’s Twitter account in addition to implementing a media campaign over seven weeks for SR10.3 million was also suspended.
The ministry halted the contract of a company for SR14.7 million to supervise and follow up on the other contracted companies with regard to training health practitioners on infection control.
Suspended contracts included employment and consultation contracts, as well as contracts related to air transport at a cost of SR30 million, in addition to leasing labs and mobile equipment that haven’t been used. The contracts also included leasing residential complexes and hotel suites for millions of riyals, in addition to a special contract for the cost of companies' meetings with the Ministry of Health.
According to sources, the Ministry of Health signed a contract for training health practitioners to fight infections with a medical group for a value of SR8.9 million, just before the new health minister took office.

Upon reviewing the contracts, it appears that the approved projects have been awarded to private sector establishments. One of the contracts cost SR7.6 million for the purpose of putting in place a special methodology to take the right decisions and define alternative future paths and strategies.

A contract for a value of SR34 million bore the name “The project of managing projects and support team for the Ministry of Health.” The ministry contracted a company for three months for a sum of SR14.7 million and to supervise and follow up on companies that were contracted to train health practitioners on infection control.

Another contract for giving incentives to health practitioners in hospitals specialized in coronavirus has been signed with a company for a value of SR400,000. The ministry wanted to support the emergency department in King Fahd Hospital by hiring two consultants for SR825,000 for 43 days.