Healthcare Board of Directors of the Thun Hospital Group will not stand for re-election
At the Annual General Meeting next Wednesday, 6 out of 7 members of the Board of Directors of the Thun hospital group STS AG will not be standing for re-election. This has been announced by the Board of Directors. It is also reproaching the cantonal health director Pierre Alain Schnegg.
24.06.2024, 12:23
24.06.2024, 12:51
SDA
Two members of the Board of Directors had already announced their resignation in advance. Four others announced the same intention in a statement on Monday. These include Gabriel Schär, President of the Simmental-Thun-Saanenland AG hospital group. The only remaining member is Corinne Reuteler, the representative from the Simmental-Saanenland region.
The Board of Directors of Spital STS AG justified the move with the "verbally expressed intentions of Government Councillor Schnegg not to re-elect the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting". Schnegg had also already appointed new members of the Board of Directors and a new Chairman.
During the negotiations between STS AG and Medaxo AG on the Zweisimmen hospital, Schnegg had exerted massive pressure on STS AG to agree to financing by means of "direct payments in the millions", it continued. "However, he rejected legal financing as proposed by the STS AG negotiating delegation."
The Board of Directors was "irritated by the pressure exerted by Government Councillor Schnegg, the interference in the business of the Board of Directors and the plans to vote him out of office, which some members of the Board of Directors have now pre-empted."
No legal basis according to financial audit
At the beginning of June, it became known that STS AG did not want to hand over Zweisimmen Hospital to Medaxo AG after all. Community representatives from Obersimmental and Saanenland criticized the company harshly for this.
In June, the Audit Office of the Canton of Bern found that the legal basis for the transfer of the hospital did not exist and that the financial powers of the Grand Council were being circumvented.
In Monday's press release, the Board of Directors of STS AG reiterated its refusal to carry out financial transactions that are not permitted according to the auditors.
According to the Board of Directors of STS AG, publication of the audit report is planned. The report will show that the financing demanded by Schnegg "would have led to legal action against the Board of Directors of Spital STS AG and is therefore not legal", it added.
In March, the Bernese government council spoke out against STS AG and in favor of Medaxo AG as the future operator of Zweisimmen Hospital. STS AG was instructed to transfer the hospital to Medaxo AG at a value of one franc and a financial contribution of five million francs. The CEO of STS AG also resigned in March.
