Based on the coordination of the Ministry of Health (MOH) with the Council of Competition (COC), it convicted 7 business institutions in the lawsuit filed by MOH accusing them of conspiring and collusion on the MOH tenders. Therefore, the COC has recently issued a number of defamation provisions against these institutions in the case of collusion on the medical gasses tenders. The MOH used to frequently call for this tender in order to provide hospitals and medical centers throughout the Kingdom with these important materials for the patients' health and safety. These violations have included collusion on the MOH tenders, price fixing and dividing markets based on the geographical location and clients. These illegal deals led to a non-real raise in the prices of medical gases, which exceeded the fair and regular profit margin considered for this kind of trade, the matter which resulted in increasing the costs of government contracts. The violating institutions have been fined with a total of 45 million riyals; by virtue of nine final provisions.
For its part, the MOH, in collaboration with the COC, was keen to provide evidences and proofs; which helped the Council to assume its responsibilities, dismantle the monopolistic entity among the medical gas producers, and come up with clues and evidences that prove any collusion among those institutions.
It is worth mentioning that the MOH extended its thanks to the COC for their efforts in searching, investigating and detecting the collusions and coordinated deals that were made between those institutions, meanwhile for combating collusion in the government tenders and protecting the public fund. Also, the MOH highlighted its full readiness to cooperate with all regulatory and supervisory authorities; in an endeavor to combat any violations of any institutions while dealing with the Ministry.
Within the same vein, the MOH called on all parties dealing with it, including individuals, institutions and companies, to cooperate with the Ministry and report any kind of illegal deals in the MOH tenders, by means of communicating with the minister's office and providing it with any information. Thus, the MOH is keen to achieve the principle of justice in the offered tenders and encourage the fair competition, in such a manner that attains the public interest for the homeland, the citizens and the business institutions in particular.