TdC refused visa for purchase of medicines to the IPO of Coimbra
The Court of Auditors (TdC) refused to give prior approval to two contracts signed by the Portuguese Institute of Oncology (IPO) in Coimbra to purchase medicines, due to the lack of available funds, and called for a legislative amendment.
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© IPO de Coimbra
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Economia Tribunal de Contas
According to two rulings consulted by the Lusa agency, the contracts in question totalled 2.16 million euros plus VAT and were signed by IPO in February and March.
According to the court, in a press release issued today, the two contracts violate the Budget Framework Law (LOE) and the Law on Commitments and Late Payments (LCPA), as there are no funds available to support the expenses incurred.
"The legislation in force determines that 'no expense may be authorised without a budget entry in the programme and in the service or in the entity, it must be appropriate and identify whether the payments will be exhausted in the year or in future years in the period provided for in the programme' and that 'no expense may be paid without the commitment and the respective payment schedule provided for being ensured by the entity's treasury budget'", justified the TdC.
In the note, the Court of Auditors also added that the lack of financial allocation was assumed by IPO de Coimbra itself, when it admitted the existence of "clear evidence of underfunding, namely, to meet expenses in the scope of oncological drug purchases, which has been growing in recent years, and the aforementioned 'ceiling' has not kept up with this growth".
Although the TdC does not question the "indispensability" of purchasing the medicines, it recalled that it has been warning since 2018 about the "non-compliance" with the financial rules, both of the LOE and the LCPA, "to which the entities of the SNS [National Health Service] are also subject and which prevent the acquisition of goods that are fundamental to health".
"This is a matter that has raised much concern for the Court, which once again calls for consideration of an appropriate legislative solution that resolves the problem of the lack of available funds in the SNS, under penalty of the Court of Auditors having to continue to refuse to endorse contracts that do not satisfy this legal obligation", stresses the statement.
Read Also: TdC criticises lack of mechanisms to regulate municipal public subsidies (Portuguese version)
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