It draws attention that the Mayor’s Office of Medellín tries to intervene in a business between third parties. It is well known that on February 23, lThe Fundación Clínica Vida signed a promise of sale with the ESE Saludcoop —in liquidation— for $16,500 million, as part of the closing of the purchase of the 80th Clinic. That is, the property already has an owner.
Why now does the Mayor’s Office say that it “continues to work on the acquisition of this property”? The pronouncement was made known during the day this Friday, and what the administration alleges is that it seeks to recover the investments made there, in addition to maintaining that infrastructure as part of the city’s public network.
The statement, which was accompanied by questions to Saludcoop for not taking into account the Municipality’s offer to stay with the Clinic, stirred up spirits in the sector. This newspaper has learned that the ESE in liquidation studied the Mayor’s proposalbut a fiscal impediment prevented him from accepting his proposal.
The settlement agent made it clear on December 30 last that no public entity of the national order, departmental or municipal office could do business with the EPS Saludcoop, So that entity had a tax penalty in place.
In addition, despite the fact that Mayor Daniel Quintero maintained in January of this year that a legal figure allowed the National Government to buy the property and then deliver it to the Municipality, The Executive allowed the terms of said law to expire, Therefore, the deal did not materialize either.
“We reject that now the Mayor’s Office of Medellín announces that it will not carry out the restitution of the infrastructure, contrary to what is stipulated in a loan agreement that was signed in the exclusive interest of the Municipality”, was the harsh message issued by Saludcoop after learning that the administration will continue to operate the property until the pandemic ends.
Although Francisco Lozano, manager of the Vida Clinic, told this newspaper in recent days that from there they had no objection to the use of the facilities by the Mayor’s Office while the contingency ends, On his calendar, he is providing specialized oncology services starting in the second half of this year. In fact, the remaining $80,000 million of the business have already been guaranteed via credit with the Davivienda bank.
Clinica Vida’s reaction to the administration’s new announcement is not yet known. What is noted, however, is that the Municipality tries to take advantage of a property that already has an owner through the protection of the loan agreement signed with the ESE Saludcoop. The 80th Clinic has been almost empty since last year, when this newspaper learned about the transfer of the last patients and health personnel.
Conjectures are already being woven about the Mayor’s move. Some sources suggest that the Quintero administration would be concerned about the possible patrimonial detriment in which the investments would result made in the clinic, after not being able to retrieve them.
It should be remembered that there the Municipality invested $23,744 million in locative adaptations and it has been said that Some $6.962 million could be lost due to costs of infrastructure assets that cannot be taken outsuch as walls, doors, adaptations in elevators, ceilings, waterproofing, walls, cleaning, hydro-sanitary and electrical networks, etc.