Clínica Vida, which would have stayed with the business, did not deny
the purchase. The Mayor’s Office assures that the negotiation has not been closed.
Although Mayor Daniel Quintero promised that the Municipality of Medellín would buy the 80th Clinic and build a mental health center there, yesterday it was learned that, as this newspaper warned in recent days, another bidder came forward and was about to close the deal with ESE Saludcoop, which owns the property and is currently in liquidation.
This is the Colombian Foundation for Clinical Cancer Life, which is executing an expansion plan and is evaluating growth options in the city. Although from the entity it was expressed that for now the rumor about the purchase would not be denied or confirmed, and its collaborators were instructed to be cautious on the matter, it was said that an official communication would be issued next week.
The issue was approached by the foundation with secrecy. And although this newspaper tried to contact Felipe Negret, settlement agent of the ESE Saludcoop and head of the business, to confirm whether the proposal was firm, it was not possible to access his version either. The truth is that several actors were the ones who moved the issue yesterday, in the midst of a greater concern: the investment made by the Municipality in that clinic while it was used.
The alert about the possible purchase was shared by the councilman of the Democratic Center Alfredo Ramos on social networks. On his Twitter account, around 11:30 in the morning, he stated: “That talk was lost: the Medellín Mayor’s Office put $23,644 million into the old Saludcoop Clinic on 80, which they knew would never be recognized, and in the that the promised ICU beds never existed”.
And, step by step, he added: “Now that a private EPS bought the clinic, the Medellín Mayor’s Office was damaged in the concealment it wanted to do and will have to answer for said detriment.” But the councilman was not the only one who raised the issue. The promoters of the recall also spoke.
Andrés Rodríguez, the visible leader of that process, pointed out on Twitter that: “A possible scandal will come to light shortly. All the money invested in the Saludcoop Clinic on 80 is going to be lost, and the Buenos Aires clinic unfinished… If we realize the incapacity of this mayor?
Is the municipality still in the bidding?
What is known is that, despite the purchase rumors, the Secretary of Health, Andree Uribe, stated yesterday that the Municipality’s offer is still valid and that the liquidator has not rejected it. “We have made several offers to the settlement agent to acquire the clinic. We still do not know if the sale will be to us or to other bidders who have also submitted purchase proposals,” the official said at a press conference.
And he added: “We have the offer standing. The sales processes are part of the settlement agent’s decision and he will be the one to report what it is (…). We know that in a negotiation there are two: who buys and who sells”.
It should be remembered that the Mayor’s Office of Medellín and the liquidating agent of ESE Saludcoop signed a loan agreement on March 26, 2020 to expand the city’s service capacity in the midst of the pandemic.
This was set until December 25, 2021, but the Secretary of Health confirmed in recent days that it would go until the 28th of this month due to the extension of the health emergency in the country, a condition set in an addendum agreed with the liquidator last year. last.
What is at stake is not minor: although the clinic has been almost empty since November, when the last patients left and the health personnel were transferred, the losses for the Municipality would be $6,962 million if another investor took over the business, after deploying there adjustments for $23,744 million.
In addition, according to the Asmedas Medical Association and the Association of Social Enterprises of the State of Antioquia —key voices in the health sector in the region—, not acquiring this asset would take away an opportunity for the city’s public network to correct the supply deficit. second level services.
Orthopedics, urology, pediatrics and obstetrics, a demand that due to its scarcity has overloaded third and fourth level hospitals, would be the package that could be offered from that building, according to experts. The same would happen with mental health services, proposed by Mayor Quintero.
The point is that it was convenient for the liquidator to sell quickly to settle the debts that were sent to ESE Saludcoop for forced liquidation, which represent $700,000 million in obligations, according to accounts shared by Negret at the time. The 80th Clinic, in the midst of this panorama, would represent an entry of $96,012 million.
In this regard, and despite the rumors of a purchase by the Vida Clinic, Secretary of Health Uribe insisted: “The investment was $23,000 million. At the time we buy it —the clinic—, we will make a decision about these adjustments and, if not, they will be other types of decisions. But right now both are hypotheses.
During yesterday’s session, EPS Sura was also mentioned as the promoter of the acquisition, through the aforementioned clinic. However, the entity issued a statement in which it clarified: “This information is false, since EPS Sura, within the framework of its corporate principles, has never influenced these processes and has no type of relationship with the negotiation that is being carried out. by said institution.
And although he explained that the Vida Clinic is part of the network of health providers with which it works, he concluded: “The company does not have any corporate link with the Vida Clinic, so it does not have any type of participation in the negotiation process. to go ahead through the Clinic of the 80”.