COA finds irregularities at Vicente Sotto hospital

The Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center had violated government policies by using close to P1 million of congressional funds for salary of its employees, the Commission on Audit recently said in its 2004 audit report of the hospital's operations.

COA said the hospital spent for salaries a total of P932,954.03 out of the priority development and assistance funds that some Cebu congressmen had granted to VSMMC supposedly for the benefits of indigent patients.

This violates National Budget Circular No. 476, which provides that PDAF funds shall not be used to pay for personal services such as salaries, honoraria, allowances, bonuses and other forms of compensation, COA said.

It was not stated in the COA report, however, what sanctions could be imposed against violators of the budget circular but it said that the hospital officials should immediately refrain from doing it this year.

Some Cebu congressmen, including Reps. Antonio Cuenco and Raul del Mar of Cebu City south district and north district, respectively, put up P5 million each every year for the medical needs of indigent patients in VSMMC.

But despite the violations committed by hospital officials, Cebu congressmen still continue giving their PDAF to help the indigent patients from their respective districts.

Del Mar, for his part, said he has been giving financial assistance to the hospital since 1999, amounting to P56 million and benefiting more than 33,000 indigents from his district.

A COA official, however, revealed that some hospital officials had been investigated over a case involving at least P3 million taken from the PDAF to refund a private drugstore for medicines dispensed to indigent patients.

An indigent patient usually gets his medicine by securing prescription from the attending physician, a referral slip from the congressman, and a validation from the hospital social worker, then present these documents to the hospital drugstore.

But when the hospital drugstore runs out of stocks of the prescribed medicine, the patient is advised to get it from a private drugstore using the same documents.

The private drugstore later collects from the hospital the payment for the medicines given to patients, by issuing a delivery receipt, cash invoice and the documents the patients earlier submitted.

But COA said some doctors complained that the signatures found in the prescriptions attached to the demand slip from the private drugstore were not theirs and thus forged. Some disbursement vouchers were not also supported with referral slips, as required. - Rene U. Borromeo