The city’s Ministry of Health has awarded a $ 1.2 billion contract that focuses primarily on services to prevent HIV / AIDS – even when the Big Apple is grappling with a massive budget crisis over the corona virus.
An enormous nine-year contract for a nonprofit Public Health Solution company announced May 27 – On the same day Mayor Bill de Blasio revealed that the city was facing a $ 9 billion budget hole due to the economic collapse of COVID-19.
Calling the AIDS contract “very strange,” Councilor Queen Robert Holden, a member of the council’s Health Committee, told The Post, “We are going through this pandemic.
“A contract of this size for a long period of time must be postponed,” said pol, a registered Democrat who was elected as a Republican member. “We have a lack of budget. We should not do this much money in the long run that we don’t have. “
On Sunday, the mayor also announced that he would take funding from the NYPD to support local youth groups when an anti-police-brutality protest raged – a move Holden said was “more and more reasons to place this contract, all under the microscope. .
“Every agent will take a beating,” he said of upcoming budget cuts amid contagion.
To cut back on police department funds during such riots is “insanity” and “not rational thought.”
The mayor did not say how much NYPD funding would be transferred to the local youth group or when, explaining that the details would be worked out in the coming weeks during the budget talks.
His office did not immediately respond to Holden’s comments.
The Ministry of Health contract came when the city set a record low in new HIV diagnoses, according to the agency report In November.
The department said that in 2018, the city figure “fell below 2,000 for the first time since annual HIV reporting began in 2001.
“According to the 2018 Annual HIV Monitoring Report, 1,917 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in New York City in 2018, down 11% from 2,157 new diagnoses reported in 2017, and down 67% from 2001,” he said.
Asked about the new HIV / AIDS contract, department spokesman Patrick Gallahue told The Post in a statement, “This is the main contract for HIV services.
“PHS will be responsible for procurement, subcontracting, and managing portfolio of human service contracts sent to various providers throughout the city.
“Through subcontracting, the majority of $ 1.2 billion will be provided to community-based social service providers to provide services to prevent new HIV and sexually transmitted infections, to reduce morbidity and mortality among individuals with HIV, to prevent / respond to infectious disease outbreaks in New York City, and to ensure and promote the health of New Yorkers. “
PHS has been awarded government contracts in the past to improve health outcomes in low-income and immigrant environments by helping people register for health insurance, provide more nutritious food choices and reduce smoking.
A spokesman for the Public Health Solution referred the question to the city’s Department of Health.
The contract runs from 1 September 2020, until 31 August 2029.
– Additional reporting by Kate Sheehy