Hospital supplies to be checked

A draft bill heralded yesterday by Health Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos foresees the creation of a state-run committee to reduce the amount hospitals spend on supplies by as much as 500 million euros per year and ensure that these resources are not squandered due to bad management. The committee’s duties would include drafting a nationwide plan for providing hospitals with all necessary supplies, excluding medicines, preparing annual budgets, setting the terms of the tender process for prospective suppliers and checking the supply process. The committee’s work would be boosted by an electronic monitoring system checking the use of products at hospitals to ensure that goods are not being removed. The chief aim is to improve organization so costs are kept down, according to Avramopoulos, who said that expenses for hospital supplies in 2005 exceeded the original budget figure by 1 billion euros. This money «is being lost in a great black hole caused by a lack of transparency, corruption and inefficient organization,» Avramopoulos said.