Center chair calls for minister's resignation over 'six-figure' summer event
Minister of Social Affairs Karmen Joller (Reform) should resign after media reports revealed a summer event hosted by the cash-strapped Health Insurance Fund (Tervisakassa) that may have cost over €100,000, Center Party leader Mihhail Kõlvart said.
Speaking Wednesday, Kõlvart said it was "directly clear that the minister has not fulfilled her duties. This issue must certainly be discussed in the Riigikogu immediately after the summer recess, but the only truly adequate reaction to what has happened would be for the minister herself to resign in such a situation."
"Estonian healthcare is suffering from a lack of funds and the Health Insurance Fund's budget is in a deficit currently. This crisis is not only one on paper, as people's wait times for treatment are also growing, and the shortfall has a direct effect on the Estonian people and their care: And in a situation like this, where the Health Insurance Fund holds summer days during working hours at Taagepera manor, reportedly for a six-figure sum. We are not merely talking about a practical team-building event here, but about a glamorous diversion that is in no way proportionate to the current state of Estonian medicine and the general living conditions of our people," the Center Party chair went on.
"This is not just about moral responsibility, as the Health Insurance Fund is not an institution far removed from the minister. The Health Insurance Fund's supervisory board is headed by the social minister, who also represents the interests of the state in the institution. If an institution plagued by chronic lack of funds spends such a large sum on luxury, it cannot be said that the interests of the state — that is, its highest power holder — were protected," Kõlvart went on.
Several media outlets on Tuesday reported on the Health Insurance Fund's summer event held at the end of last month at the Wagenküll spa hotel in Taagepera manor in Valga County, near the Latvian border. The entire complex was booked out for the event, according to the reports.
Õhtuleht put the cost of the event at potentially over €100,000.
Joller, a medical doctor, did note in response to media questions that this use of funds could indeed offend the public's sense of justice, a concession Kõlvart said is unsatisfactory.
"The unanswered question is how something like this could have happened under the minister's area of responsibility," he added, noting in this context tax hikes, closing businesses, and a general rise in poverty, which has even seen a surge in shoplifting from food stores, Kõlvart said.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
