2017-04-21
The National Audit Office had Carried out an Audit of the Management of State Assets Transferred to Health Care Establishments
The public audit has found that the Ministry of Health is the manager of 559.9 million EUR of acquisition value and 29,000 long-term assets – mostly medical equipment and buildings – used by 212 establishments. It should be noted that the main goal of the Ministry is to develop health care policy.
The health care field is dominated by a form of state asset management that is not characteristic of the Ministry: the Ministry provides state assets to state and some municipal public health care establishments under contracts of loan for use intended for the provision of health care services.
Given current legislation, the Ministry should undertake activities related to the management of said assets, namely: supervise their usage, take part during inventory, draw up and clarify loan for use and rent agreements, write off redundant assets, auction them, rent out vacant premises, and undertake other activities incumbent on an asset manager.
The audit has shown that the Ministry takes only a formal part in the management of assets transferred in accordance with contracts of loan for use: the Ministry fails to update contracts of loan for use and monitor their implementation, lacks accurate information and data on transferred assets, their condition and use, makes overdue decisions regarding the writing off of assets (e.g., unused medical equipment is only written off after 5-8 years), lacks information on vacant premises, and rents them out below market price.
The Ministry of Heath fails to implement some of the functions incumbent on an asset manager and relegates them to health care establishments, which have no interest in implementing them appropriately, because, in accordance with current legislation, they are not responsible for the application of principles related to the management of state assets, and receive no income related to the renting out and selling of assets.
In order to address the deficiencies identified during the audit before the implementation of nation-wide decisions related to the management of assets takes place, the auditors recommend the Ministry to take immediate action: review the functions of said assets carried out by structural units and specify clear responsibilities for their implementation in order to separate policy development from its implementation, decrease the Ministry’s administrative load and ensure effective management of state assets belonging to the relevant field.
The National Audit Office is currently performing a systemic audit of the entirety of state-owned immovable property, and will provide a number of proposals regarding the development of complex state property asset management policy and nationwide problem-solving in the latter part of the year.