Army audit concludes masks were bought at market price
The audit found no major shortcomings in the quality of the masks
Keystone / Francesca Agosta
There are “strong indications” that the Swiss army did not overpay for hygiene and respiratory masks last year, according to an internal investigation by the defence ministry.
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Defence Minister Viola Amherd tasked the internal audit department in January with reviewing the army pharmacy’s purchases of masks during the Covid-19 pandemic, including some 700,000 that were described in media reports as being of poor quality.
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Government purchases of masks under scrutiny
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An internal investigation has been launched into the Swiss army pharmacy’s purchases of masks.
In their report published on Thursday the auditors said that given the high demand, limited supply and urgency to procure enough masks, it was inevitable that prices for medical supplies would rise.
They said that while only a court could “conclusively rebut the allegations of usury and overcharging”, overall the audit showed that the procurement of the masks was carried out in accordance with the “principles of thrift”.
The audit also found no major shortcomings in the quality of the masks, saying that the quality of the masks had been a major challenge worldwide and that “significant efforts” had been made to procure good-quality masks in an exceptional situation.
“We found that for mask deliveries that took place in the period March to May 2020, only isolated notices of defects regarding quality have been issued to suppliers to date,” the auditors reported.
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Swiss army recruited to ensure supply of medical masks
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The Tages AnzeigerExternal link newspaper says the decision to bring in military procurement support was taken by the government in mid-March, around the time it ordered a nationwide shutdown of schools and non-essential businesses. According to the newspaper, one of the priorities is to bring up to 400 million medical masks to Switzerland by the…
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“No,” say the Swiss government and the WHO; “yes,” say some European governments and Swiss politicians; “yes and no,” say many opinionated readers.
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