May 02, 2020

Bosnian raspberry farm becomes medical ventilators importer

topic:	Health and Sanitation
located:	Bosnia and Herzegovina, China
editor:	Katarina Panić

In Bosnia, the local agricultural company Srebrena Malina (Silver Raspberry) has been chosen by the state to import 100 respirators from China. The fruit and vegetable grower signed a €5 million contract, having no prior experience in dealing with medical equipment. 

Although it's hard to imagine something more suspicious than farmers importing medical equipment for COVID-19 treatment, the institutions are now trying to avoid accountability and to shift the blame to the media.

"It is a brutal attack on freedom of the media and freedom of expression, and the misuse of the COVID-19 crisis to prevent journalists from carrying out their tasks. It is not the first time that the authorities and even the judiciary are labelling journalists and the media as the main culprits for various affairs, which have been disclosed and made public thanks to the media", Bosnia's Association of Journalists, BH Novinari, stated on Thursday, April 30.

The model of ventilators that arrived is not FDA approved. It is also available for sale on Facebook despite a shortage in the world market. The price is lower than the machines were allegedly paid. It is mainly used in ambulance cars and not in intensive care units. The state Agency for Medical Products and Medical Devices provided the licence to the farmer a few weeks after the contract was signed and a few days after the equipment landed to Sarajevo airport last Saturday.

The company’s owner Fikret Hodžić is a local TV presenter. He accused the media too for publishing "paid articles", adding he is "sure that there will be more lies" about the case.

Police and prosecutors are investigating whether the procurement rules were violated and if there are elements of a crime involved.

But this particular case is not unique. The local tourist agency Travel for Fun was chosen by the state to supply the public health system with protective gear through a €1.4 million contract. Furthermore, two people have been suspected of having defrauded a Slovenian company that wanted to purchase face masks for €300,000. One of them is in the electric installation business, while the other runs an elevator-maintenance company.

People ask: what is next? One Twitter user wrote "You should grow the nettle. You never know when the state is going to need to import the aircraft."

Image by ejaugsburg 

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