Radar weekly said that a state-owned company lost its hospital catering contract to a consortium of private companies which is going to charge three times the price.

The Republic Health Care Fund (RFZO) decided to terminate the contract it had with the Serbian Clinical Center’s Technical-Economy Center (TEC) to provide food for patients in the hospitals under its charge. The contract went to the five private companies which will be charging 2,516 Dinars (1 Euro – 117 Dinars) for the same thing that the TEC charged 830 Dinars for.
The RFZO decision leaves more than 100 people jobless.

The decision was taken in line with an April 2022 government decree which added catering, security and cleaning to the centralized procurement list for the health care service. The RFZO did the first catering centralized procurement in August for 18 hospitals and health care institutions but the tender conditions prevented the TEC from making an offer unless it teamed up with companies linked to the authorities.

The contract went to Pro Chef and Movie Kitchen Catering who teamed up with the right partners – Illi Group Novi Sad (a grocery supplier) and Time Partner (a cleaning company alleged to have been used to launder money) along with the T&M Group Solution security company which Radar said is known for alleged involvement in election fraud across the region.

Radar asked hospital managers if they agreed to the centralized procurement but was told that the Health Ministry banned any communication with the media. It added that it was told off the record that they were not offered a choice.