Healthcare SVP cantonal president Bühler backs Schnegg
The Bernese SVP cantonal president Manfred Bühler has backed his party colleague Pierre Alain Schnegg. As head of the cantonal health department, he was heavily criticized by the financial auditors for his plans to hand over the Zweisimmen hospital. The SP and the Greens are calling for an investigation.
27.06.2024, 17:14
SDA
Certain points raised in the cantonal audit report should certainly be discussed. He did not want to deny this. Apart from that, however, he is fully behind government councillor Schnegg, said Bühler on Thursday evening at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.
He said that the audit report was somewhat "narrow-minded" in parts. "Apparently the audit office lacks a certain entrepreneurial thinking that Schnegg has," said Bühler. He was convinced that Schnegg had in no way wanted to circumvent the financial powers of another body.
Bühler did not want to comment on the positions of the Finance Commission of the Grand Council. The SP thinks everything that comes from Schnegg's directorate is wrong anyway. But this issue should not be argued ideologically. "A hospital doesn't have to be profitable, but it must operate in a reasonably balanced way."
He comes from the Jura and the hospital sites in St. Imier and Moutier could only be maintained thanks to partnerships with private companies. But the SP is fundamentally against cooperation with private players.
SP: "Worrying picture"
The cantonal SP is calling for Schnegg's conduct in office to be reviewed by a supervisory commission. The audit report paints "a worrying picture of Schnegg's actions". The SP wrote in a press release that Schnegg had deliberately wanted to circumvent the financial authority of the Grand Council by transferring millions to the private provider Medaxo.
The region around Zweisimmen may be facing a shambles. The people in the region and the local employees would suffer. Schnegg's policy of privatizing hospitals is detrimental to good healthcare in the long term.
Greens: Schnegg's "backroom deal"
The Green Party of the Canton of Berne also called for "a complete clarification of the events". Schnegg had tried to privatize healthcare in Simmental "via a backroom deal". The financial competence of the Grand Council had been circumvented and a political discussion about the project had been prevented.
The fact that Schnegg had tried by all means to give the Zweisimmen hospital site to a private provider instead of saving the long-discussed project of the cantonal STS AG left big question marks. The government council's argumentation is not very convincing.
This approach is a major breach of trust towards the affected municipalities, the Grand Council and the people who have been campaigning for the continued operation of Zweisimmen Hospital for years.
