“Poor quality of service”, “poor management”: the Court of Auditors points the finger at the functioning of Martinique’s general social security fund (CGSS), in a report published on Wednesday.
«Very degraded until 2023, the service provided to policyholders saw an increase at the beginning of 2024 for most of the fund’s activities», underlines the Court of Auditors in the summary of this report, estimating however that «the situation remains in the complex fragile and unsatisfactory for local users.”
For example, “the CGSS processed the procedures for retirement applications in 183 days, i.e. times almost 60% longer than the national average”, specify the financial magistrates.
As regards the disease branch, “the unprocessed treatment cards represent more than 300,000 euros of treatment that could not be reimbursed”, the Court of Auditors also notes.
Created in 1947, the General Social Security Fund (CGSS) of Martinique pays health and maternity insurance, accidents at work and occupational diseases, pension benefits and covers social contributions from the general system and that of agricultural operators .
This represents €3 billion in refunds and €1.7 billion in direct debits.
In addition to the dysfunctions of the service, the governance and management of this central organization in the Martinique healthcare system are the subject of strong criticism by the Court of Auditors.
“Subsequent boards of directors have failed to comply with all current regulations and have abused the use of the organization’s resources,” this report charges.
“In July 2023, the current chairman of the board of directors asked to benefit from work equipment similar to that of agents (email address, computer)” as well as a remuneration, the Court of Auditors cites as an example.
Salary that is not included in the social security code.
The report also highlights “serious abuses in public procurement” and “an absence of human resources management”.
In their conclusion, the financial magistrates believe that “a new collective project is now indispensable, based on a management committee, an organizational chart and profoundly renewed internal processes”.
Otherwise, they add, “the fund should be placed under provisional administration” to obtain “its recovery”.