The SEM is seeking a new helicopter manager due to the current company's repeated non-compliance.
The government has cut its contract with Eliance in half to avoid replacing vehicles while they are being serviced.
BarcelonaThe Medical Emergency System (SEM) is looking for a new company to manage two of the four medicalized helicopters that operate in Catalonia so that the current company, Eliance, has repeatedly breached its contractual obligationsSpecifically, it has not replaced the vehicles while they undergo maintenance inspections, although it is obligated to provide a backup vehicle, according to its contract.
In a statement, the SEM reported that the contractual relationship with Eliance will be cut in half, as it will only manage the Girona and Móra d'Ebre bases. A call for tenders is now open due to imperative urgency—a procedure included in the public sector contracts law—to find a second manager in the management sector.
The public emergency medical assistance company estimates that the new contract could be signed in April and its service provision could begin in June of this year. The new aviation services company would operate from the Tremp and Sabadell bases, while Eliance would continue to manage the services in Girona and Móra d'Ebre. The contract is expected to last two years and cost approximately €7 million annually.
The SEM wants to "diversify" the medical helicopter service to guarantee its availability after a string of problems in recent months. Under normal conditions, Catalonia has four strategic medical bases—one in Girona, one in Sabadell, one in Tremp, and one in Móra la Nova—which are managed based on alerts. This means that they don't only provide service where they are located, but rather dynamic management is carried out based on the number of simultaneous emergencies, if there are weather problems affecting the takeoff of the aircraft, or if the flight must be made at night.
However, only two helicopters, the one in Tremp and the one in Sabadell, are interchangeable, as they have the capacity to take off 24 hours a day, fly at night, and make the route (both outbound and return) between Barcelona and the Pyrenees without needing to refuel. Due to mandatory maintenance work, Eliance left the Tremp base uncovered on several occasions in January to reinforce the Sabadell base, as the Vallès helicopter was undergoing mandatory inspection. While the work was being carried out, it failed to provide a replacement.
Fines of 1.2 million
This breach of contract—which has also been detected in Madrid and Galicia by the company itself over the past two years—has resulted in fines of €1.2 million from the SEM. In fact, at the Parliamentary plenary session in mid-February, the Minister of Health, Olga Pané, announced that the government was seeking "other alternatives" to ensure that incidents of this type would not impact the service.
However, a few weeks ago, the director of the Medical Emergency System (SEM), Anna Fontquerni, admitted that air medical emergencies are facing a "complex" situation internationally, and that there are only two companies in the entire country that can provide this service.