A group of federal deputies and employees of the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) collected, this Friday (3), documents from the Federal Hospital of Bonsucesso (HFB), in Rio de Janeiro, which caught fire in 2020 in a fire that killed 16 people. The group will verify possible irregularities and responsibilities of the management of the public health unit.
According to the deputies, members of the Financial Oversight and Control Committee of the Chamber, who visited the hospital, the idea is, together with the Federal Court of Auditors, to “comb a fine-tooth comb” on the contracts and check if there is a relationship between the provision of service and the conditions that led to the tragedy.
The group’s assessment is that the unit’s previous managements abused emergency contracts without the real need for it, and for a long period. Furthermore, consecutive management changes would also have negatively contributed to the hospital’s administration.
According to deputy Kim Kataguiri (DEM-SP), there was “very great volatility in the appointment of directors as well”, with the change of about ten executives in the last decade, with four of them occupying the chair in the last year.
“This change of directors also brought about a change in the head of the contracts sector, which is the core of our investigation”, said the deputy.
The delegation also included deputies Hildo Rocha (MDB-MA) and Elias Vaz (PSB-GO). The group went to the unit around 10 am this Friday, accompanied by employees of the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU).
Most contracts had no bidding
A survey by the Commission found that 69% of the contracts signed by the federal hospital in Bonsucesso in the last three years were signed without bidding.
The deputies produced a request to audit all these contracts, together with the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU).
In the application, the lawmakers affirm that these contracts, signed with 33 companies, add up to more than R$ 96 million. Some of the contracts are related to cleaning services, maintenance of air conditioning and hiring an administrative assistant.
According to the delegation, the hospital has a service classified as an emergency contracted for ten years and still in force.
In one of the cases in which the contract classified as emergency was terminated and a new contract was made via public tender, there was a saving of R$ 7 million per year, said the deputies.
Hospital management manifestation
The director general of the Federal Hospital of Bonsucesso, Cláudio Pena Gonçalves, told the Commission representatives that some of the contracts were signed without a bidding process due to the delay in the process, which could reach five years through the normal procedure.
Sought by CNN, the direction of the Federal Hospital of Bonsucesso said that it regularized more than half of the contracts in an emergency situation in the last nine months, but did not clarify the deadlines for the termination of the other contracts.
Reference: CNN Brasil
