Citing COA report, Recto scores DOH for letting P2.2 billion in meds expire

MANILA, Philippines — Citing a report from the Commission on Audit, a lawmaker on Tuesday hit the Department of Health for "letting taxpayer-bought medicines expire in bulk." 

"In a nation where many resort to halving tablets for lack of money to buy the full prescribed dosage, the recently-released 2019 COA report that P2.2 billion worth of expired and about to expire drugs were languishing in DOH-run stockrooms is like being sutured without anesthesia," Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said.

In its 2019 DOH annual audit report, the commission said that "medical and dental supplies amounting to P2.2 billion are either expired or overstocked/slow-moving or nearly expired" due to the following reasons:

• poor procurement planning
• inefficient and uncoordinated transfer/distribution
• lack of monitoring and proper storage, which hindered the maximum delivery of the highest quality of medical/health care services to the general public and entailed wastage of government funds

"The expired drugs include those for oral health. With [nine] in 10 Filipinos suffering from tooth decay and only [one] in 10 able to afford to see a dentist once a year, this news is as painful as a root canal," Recto said. 

He added that COA was "hinting of pilferage" in its report which recommended the installation of CCTV cameras in and around DOH warehouses and stockrooms.

"The DOH is also asking for P486 million for 'Procurement and Supply Chain Management Service' for 2021. We should demand a bill of particulars for this," Recto said, adding that the fund should also be used to purchase the CCTV cameras recommended by COA. 

"This kind of 'drug trafficking' must be stopped," the senator urged. 

'Special provision' needed in DOH's 2021 budget to ensure medicine reaches patients 

The COA report's findings also led the senator to flag the DOH's P19.09-billion procurement budget approved pre-pandemic as well as the P28.64 billion requested by the department for procurement in 2021. 

"We have almost 48 billion reasons to be worried," Recto said, referencing the amount of both budgets combined. 

The lawmaker added that, of the total health public-private spending of P799 billion in 2018, more than 25% — or P225 billion— came from private out-of-pocket purchases of medicine. 

Recto also emphasized the Filipinos are "medicine-poor," citing 371 Filipinos who die daily from heart and hypertensive diseases as well as 88 Filipinos who succumb to diabetes every 24 hours. 

"Overall, we need a 'fast-acting relief' from what has become a procurement sickness of this department so that drugs bought this year and next year will not be wasted," he added. 

Given this, Recto said the Senate should include a special provision in the DOH's 2021 budget which would enumerate guidelines as well as guarantee that medicine procured by the department reaches patients. 

"If the lack of supply chain specialists is the culprit for rotting medications, then they should be recruited using the 14,553 vacancies in the DOH," he added. — Bella Perez-Rubio