None of the 100 Respirators Bosnia procured is operational

None of the 100 respirators procured by “Silver Raspberry” company is still operational. The new problem is the contract that has expired with the company that performed the verification of the device, and because of that, a new public call will have to be announced. It is still unknown when the trial against Novalic and others will begin.

It is still uncertain when the respirators procured by the “Silver Raspberry” for the needs of the Federation of BiH will be put into operation. Currently, respirators, which are distributed to health facilities, have no one to verify.

It has been confirmed to BHRT that a new public call for the provision of respirator verification services will be announced next week.

“In the response we received from the Public Procurement Agency, it was clearly stated that in order to ensure proper application of the law in this case, there is no possibility of extending the contract, and that it is necessary to conclude a new one, after the appropriate procedure,” said the Federal Civil Protection Administration.

While waiting for which company will perform the verification, the process of installing the device, for which “Dre medical” is in charge, is not over yet. As a reason for the delay, they state – the staff infected with COVID 19, holidays and vacations.

So far, three respirators have passed through the verification process, two at the University Clinical Center Sarajevo and one in Gorazde, which were found to be unusable. As confirmed to BHRT, out of 100 purchased respirators, 93 were deployed in hospitals. One of them is the hospital in Nova Bila.

Velimir Valjan, director of the Croatian Hospital “Dr. fra Mato Nikolic said that unfortunately, smaller hospitals have a smaller number, but that he hopes that if they needed them, respirators would be provided.

”In any case, for this pandemic and for some future times, we must supply our health care institutions with quality devices, including respirators. ”

On January 18, twenty days after the confirmation of the indictment in the “Respirators” affair, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced that the indictment had been confirmed.

We remind you that the indictment charges Federal Prime Minister Fadil Novalic, former director of the Federal Civil Protection Administration Fahrudin Solak, the company Srebrena Malina and its owner Fikret Hodzic with association for committing criminal offenses.

They all are also charged with abuse of official position or authority, and Hodzic and his company are also charged with money laundering. Federal Minister of Finance Jelka Milićeviz is accused of negligent work in the service. There are no hearings yet.