The Obesity Center is the name of the clinic that the Minister of Health, Francisco Alabi, had founded on October 23, 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 epidemic, along with a contractor from the same ministry that runs it, according to the investigation in Factum magazine.

According to the report, the clinic operates in a place where the Koren Clinic is also located, where about five specialists from different health districts, in addition to Alabi, are working without any license from the Public Health Board, which is the entity that regulates and grants permits to clinics after carrying out relevant inspections on The range of services, schedules, health services, lighting and ventilation conditions, as well as the management of biologically infectious waste.

The Obesity Center is a clinic specializing in weight loss, as evidenced by its center Facebook pageAccording to lawyer Jose Marinero, whom Factum consulted, in this case there is no compatibility between the private medical practice of Minister Alabi and his functions at the head of the Ministry of Health, something that can even be understood as a clear inconsistency. of importance, which is regulated by Section 6 of the Government Ethics Act.

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And not only this. According to the same report, Karen Rivas, a friend and partner of the Minister in the Bariatric Center, was also a contractor with the ministry run by Alabi, having obtained contracts to manage the social networks of “Dr. Jose Antonio Saldaña “in order to raise his image.

These contracts amount to $10,800 and were awarded in February and July 2020. But after reviewing the contract and checking what was posted during that period on the Facebook of the said hospital, it can be concluded that the activities agreed in the award. for the report.

In addition, these contracts were awarded under the free management method, ie without a bidding process. Simply put, the contract was awarded to Karen Rivas without further analysis of offers or sellers.

According to Factum, neither Minister Alabi nor Karen Rivas responded to questions to find out their own version of the Obesity Center, among which is knowing the minister’s version of the hours he treats his patients, as he is an official whose position requires long hours of work, as well as whether It was considered a conflict of interest to operate a private clinic while heading a ministry responsible for promoting public health policies, or if it sold health services to Bienestar Magistrates or Social Security.

This can be verified if the transparency portal of the various ministries has shared details about the public contracts that have been implemented so far in 2021, which they did not do, according to the publication.

Francisco Alabi has been discriminated by the Court of Accounts for wrongdoing in awarding contracts during the pandemic. Photo: Twitter / Ministry of Health. Photo: @AsntaciónSV

Irregular purchases during the pandemic

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Francisco Alabi has been questioned and flagged by the Court of Accounts of the Republic for awarding him contracts and making purchases with direct public funds under an emergency decree issued by the executive branch last year to set him up in the face of the pandemic.

However, a special examination conducted by the Court of Accounts, between the months of March and June 2020, of procurement processes in the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Public Works, found at least ten violations that directly violated the Procurement Law. Public Administration Contracts (LACAP), including payment of up to $900,000 in non-Covid-19 related services, as well as payment of up to $121,000 for unfinished or unfinished works.

In all of the objections made by the Court of Accounts regarding purchases during the emergency period (the decision was made on March 24, 2020) and on which I consulted the Chief of Health, the response was the same: “The requirements set forth in LACAP do not apply to purchases made during a national emergency, therefore, There is no legally attributable breach based on these regulations.”

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This redundant reply, which can be read in nearly all of the objections raised by CCR auditors, was sent by note to the auditors dated December 14, 2020, in which it asserts that the irregularities cannot be ascribed to validity because it was not the institution that made the purchases, although The fact that the agreement “Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Hospitals in the National Network, Implemented by the Ministry of Public Works” obliges the Ministry of Health to verify and evaluate the procurement carried out by the MOP to ensure that they meet the technical requirements necessary to combat the Covid-19 epidemic.

Because of this series of infractions, both Alabi and the movement’s president, Romeo Rodriguez, were sent to court under file number CAM-V-JC-003-2021, already in Trial Chamber V since last February 9.