Monopoly games?

The St. Petersburg Social Insurance Fund announced a competition for the production of orthopedic footwear for 15 million rubles. The Kladovaya Zdorovya company announced to the Federal Antimonopoly Service in St. Petersburg that officials are imposing the products of certain companies on the parents of disabled children, Fontanka.ru says.

Alexander Obraztsov, deputy manager of the St. Petersburg regional branch of the social insurance fund, noted that in addition to buying from the winner of the competition, it is possible for those in need of orthopedic shoes to purchase one more option: shoes are purchased independently, after which the budget will reimburse the costs. “Two conditions must be met,” notes Alexander Obraztsov. - Shoes must appear in the classifier, and the cost of the product must not exceed the price under a government contract. The numbers increase annually, in 2011 more than 180 million rubles were allocated for these purposes. "

Orthopedic shoes are also purchased at the expense of the St. Petersburg budget: since the beginning of 2012, the Committee on Social Policy has spent about 7 million rubles to reimburse the costs of purchasing orthopedic shoes for those in need. According to officials, a total of 2012 million rubles will be spent on additional rehabilitation funds in 74. According to the head of the department of methodological guidance for the rehabilitation of disabled people of the committee on social policy, Alexander Cheryukanov, since 2006, the city has been conducting a qualification selection of enterprises for the manufacture of complex orthopedic shoes. Moreover, strict requirements are imposed not only on production, but also on products. “The low price of products cannot be the only criterion when choosing the winner of the competition for public procurement of medical products,” the committee is sure.

However, Boris Lipner, the head of the Pantry Health Company, filed a complaint with the FAS in St. Petersburg in order to expose, in his opinion, the unfair distribution of funds within the framework of the FSS orders: “The city artificially limits the range of companies operating under a state contract. In St. Petersburg, about 100 private firms sell orthopedic shoes, and they are several times cheaper than the ones produced by the winners of the city competition. " In particular, he claims that last year the price for 8 pairs of shoes was compensated, about 461 of them were purchased from the Orthopedic Shoes Factory, about 5000 from ORTO-S. In order to eliminate injustice, Boris Lipner proposes to introduce the monetization of benefits - they say, then people will be able to decide for themselves where to choose orthopedic shoes.

“The population always has a choice,” retorts Alexander Obraztsov. - Mr. Lipner is disingenuous. We are not against the expansion of the number of enterprises working under government contracts. FAS checked the Social Insurance Fund several times and did not reveal any violations of antimonopoly legislation. A state contract was not concluded with "Kladova zdorovya", because the head did not submit a certificate from the tax office. However, last year, 18 clients who purchased orthopedic shoes from this company received compensation from the FSS. "

Zdorovaya Zdorovya did not participate in the selection for the supply of orthopedic shoes. It was about the delivery of walking sticks. Moreover, the company could not participate in the selection for shoes, since it does not have its own production. This is confirmed by Boris Lipner, who stated that he is not a manufacturer of orthopedic shoes. Curiously, in his complaint to the OFAS, he also points out that the controlled company “manufactures and sells orthopedic footwear”.

Officials and experts warn: complex products cannot be simply bought ready-made in a store, they will most likely be simply of inadequate quality. In order for a shoe to really fit, it must be made individually for the foot, and in order to understand whether the product is harmful, a "trial period" of at least 7 days is needed.

One way or another, but this is not the first scandal surrounding the sale of shoes to people with disabilities in Russia, riamoda.ru summarizes.