Incorrect news title

This is with reference to the article by Mr. Michael Punongbayan relative to the Commission on Audit (COA) 2010 report on National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) which was published in your newspaper, Philippine STAR on Jan. 3, 2012.

The title of the article is not correct. COA did not ask NKTI to return the P4.2M Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) Endowment Fund. Rather, it is requiring NKTI to “account for more than P4.2 million in medical assistance funds that remain unliquidated since 2005”; that PCSO will not replenish the endowment funds until previous grants have been settled. NKTI has already submitted its liquidation report to the COA office located at the Institute.

With respect to the item on expensive drugs being sold at NKTI, these medicines which were not in accordance with those prescribed by Government Mediated Access Prices (GMAP) were emergency purchases. Such justification was agreed to by COA. However, this process does not anymore usually happen at NKTI since procurement of pharmaceutical supplies is now done through bidding following RA 9184 or consignment based on the guidelines set by the Department of Health (DOH).

Please rest assured that because of its ISO certification and its continuous journey towards excellence, NKTI Quality Policy demands compliance to regulatory and statutory requirements all the time. And implementation of such is being closely monitored by our resident COA Auditor.