Outcomes of audit activities in the health sector

The quality of equipment in medical institutions is a matter not only of treatment effectiveness, but also of patient safety.

The Department of Internal State Audit for Pavlodar Region conducted an audit event regarding the Municipal State Enterprise on the Right of Economic Management "Pavlodar City Hospital No. 3" of the Health Department of Pavlodar Region of the Akimat of Pavlodar Region (hereinafter - the Enterprise).

The audit event was conducted in order to establish compliance with the norms and requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan when using budget funds allocated for the purchase of medical equipment, in particular patient stretchers and patient beds with mechanical drive, under civil-law contracts concluded with suppliers.

The object of the audit was the financial and economic operations of the Enterprise related to the procurement procedure, acceptance of the delivered equipment and payment under the concluded contracts, as well as the suppliers' compliance with their contractual obligations regarding the conformity of the supplied goods to the technical characteristics specified in the tender documentation.

During the audit event, it was established that the Enterprise did not fully ensure compliance with the requirements established by the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Budget Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The identified violations are of a comprehensive nature and reflect an insufficient level of control by the officials of the Enterprise over the proper fulfillment by suppliers of contractual obligations. In particular, the following facts were established:

-Violation of the requirements of the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Enterprise, as a party to the supply contracts, did not ensure proper control over the conformity of the supplied equipment to the conditions stipulated by the concluded contracts and technical specifications. Acceptance of the goods was carried out without proper verification of their conformity to the established requirements, which is a violation of the norms regulating the procedure for accepting goods by quantity and quality.

-Violation of the requirements of the Budget Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Enterprise allowed unjustified expenditure of budget funds in the form of payment for the delivered medical equipment that did not conform to the technical characteristics specified in the tender documentation. Payment was made in full without taking into account the fact of the delivered goods' non-conformity to the terms of the contract.

-Non-conformity of the delivered goods to the technical specification.

The suppliers improperly fulfilled their obligations to deliver medical equipment — patient stretchers and patient beds with mechanical drive. The delivered goods do not fully conform to the characteristics specified in the technical specification of the Enterprise stated in the tender documentation during procurement procedures.

These circumstances led to the Enterprise accepting equipment that did not conform to the declared technical requirements, as well as to the unjustified payment under the concluded contracts.

The total amount of funds covered by the audit event amounted to 39,338.7 thousand tenge. During the audit, financial violations were identified for the specified amount related to the unjustified expenditure of budget funds due to payment for medical equipment that did not conform to the technical characteristics specified in the tender documentation.

In addition to financial violations, procedural violations were also identified during the audit.

During the audit event, the Enterprise reimbursed the amount of 24,000.0 thousand tenge to the budget, which indicates the taking of measures to partially eliminate the identified violations on a voluntary basis.

Based on the results of the audit event, an order was sent to the Enterprise to eliminate the identified violations and consider the liability of the persons who committed them, regarding the taking of appropriate measures against the persons who committed the above-mentioned violations.

As of the current date, the order to eliminate the identified violations and consider the liability of the persons who committed them has been fully executed by the Enterprise.