Adriatic Properties, the company owned by Mr Petros Stathis, who offered 10.000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the citizens of Montenegro, hasn’t received any letter from the Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, Pobjeda daily has learned, although the Ministry of Health made a somewhat different statement yesterday.
According to the Ministry, on 8 February 2021, the Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices sent a letter to Adriatic Properties, listing the documentation that needs to be submitted in order to take the afore mentioned donation in consideration.
“We haven’t received the answer to date,” says the statement of the Ministry of Health.
They also note that the Greek businessman has never sent any letter specifying the type of the vaccine and the manner of transport, but they still sent him [Mr Stathis] a letter.
On 21 January, Mr Petros Stathis announced that he was ready to donate 10.000 vaccines against the coronavirus to Montenegro citizens, and since then, the Ministry of Health has stated several times that the donation couldn’t be accepted. The State Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Mr Borko Bajić, said there was no need to donate anything because they had already agreed over sufficient doses of the coronavirus vaccine with the manufacturers.
After that, the Ministry of Health proposed “that Mr Stathis hand over the vaccine to the United Arab Emirates, which will control their quality, and then donate it to us. If the vaccine doesn’t fit in the temperature regime (from + 2 to + 8), its quality immediately becomes questioned and it cannot be used.”
Adriatic Properties reacted, stating that the official Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine distributor – the G42 company- possessed vaccines, not they themselves.
“As G42 is the official distributor and donor, we believe they know how Synopharm vaccines are stored and transported. Our only obligation is to reserve them and pay for 10.000 units if Montenegro wants that,” it was said in a statement of Adriatic Properties.
They pointed out that the official distributor was ready and expected contact from official representatives of Montenegro.
It’s, however, unclear why the Ministry of Health later on decided to accept the donation after all their explanations that it would threaten bilateral agreements and WHO recommendations.
The Ministry yesterday reiterated that no donation had been refused, as they [donations] were not officially offered.
According to them, it’s not true that the Government rejected any donation, neither the one offered by the Greek businessman, Mr Petros Stathis nor vaccines offered by his Russian counterpart, Mr Oleg Deripaska.
“However, there’s a procedure that we must adhere to. We have never received any official offer by Mr Oleg Deripaska. The Ministry held a meeting with representatives of Mr Deripaska’s Foundation, and they told they might donate Covid vaccines, but nothing else than that. After that, the Ministry of Health contacted representatives of Russian institutions who noted that such a donation would threaten official diplomatic negotiations over the delivery of the Russian vaccine,” the Ministry stated.
They continued: “Therefore, the donation may occur only through direct contact with the manufacturer or the state, and then the Government takes further steps by entering into bilateral relations.”
The Ministry has stated that they are in final negotiations with the vaccine manufacturer Pfizer for the procurement of sufficient doses of vaccines for the first quarter of this year. In addition, they have already signed the agreement for the purchase of Russia’s Sputnik vaccine – 50.000 doses – whereas negotiations are still going on over the procurement of China’s Sinopharm vaccine.
