COA exposes P7.43B worth of DOH expired medicines

The nation is heavily indebted to the tune of more than P14 trillion. The people are suffering. The prices of medicines, like the prices of rice, crude oil, medicine and kerosene are rising like crazy. And still the DOH has squandered more than P7 billion worth of medicines left undistributed until their expiration, and rotting in their warehouses.  Heads must roll and some people must be fired for such a heinous crime against the people.

While the people are suffering in extreme poverty, hundreds of thousands of poor Filipinos are dying without medicines, the COA exposes that the Department of Health has about seven billion pesos worth of expired, expiring and damaged drugs in its inventory, just lying and rotting in DOH warehouses. This is unforgivable and can be considered a crime of economic sabotage. Now, they have the temerity to ask for billions for their 2024 budget. If I were a member of Congress, I would move for a zero allocation. They can easily blame their predecessors and exculpate themselves and even raise all defenses. But tremendous damages have been inflicted on the nation and the people. Heads should roll and money should be paid back to the government.

If this happens in Japan, the DOH secretary should be held guilty of command responsibility, he should right then and there, tender his irrevocable resignation and commit a career "hara kiri" before the sovereign Filipino people. The secretary, undersecretaries and the specific agency heads and unit chiefs should be charged administratively, civilly and criminally. At the very least, they could be held accountable, responsible and liable for reckless imprudence, inexcusable negligence and lack of foresight, lack of skills resulting in tremendous damage to the government and to the people. We have more than 14 trillion of national debt and these people are squandering the peoples' money.

The COA report indicates that medicines, drugs and other types of inventories of the Department of Health (DOH) amounting P7.43 billion were found to be expired, nearly expired, or damaged, the latest Commission on Audit (COA) report showed. In fairness to the incumbent DOH secretary,Ted Herbosa, he might have inherited this recurrent problem since the times of past secretaries like Maria Rosario Vergiere (in acting capacity) Francisco Duque, Paulyn Ubial, Janette Garin, and as far as Enrique Ona. But Ted Herbosa has been in position for a number of months already. he could have salvaged some of the billions worth of medicines. But he did not. He should accept full responsibility.

The COA report indicates that state auditors found in the 2022 annual audit, that the DOH has deficient procurement planning, poor distribution and monitoring systems, and other weaknesses in internal controls resulting in wastage of government funds and resources. The problem is not in the quality of medicines, which were purchased allegedly with high prices, but in the management, administration and handling of the procurement and distribution system. There is no justification that can excuse the officials and personnel of DOH, both the central office and the regional offices for this P7.43 billion grand fiasco.

This 7.43 billion that shall go to the drain must be a portion of the 14 trillion of debt that the government owes to both foreign and domestic sources of borrowings. Not only wasted billions but we also have to pay interest on those huge amounts even when the medicines were not being used by the people, many of whom are dying due to excessive cost of drugs and health care. What is happening to our country, Mr. DOH secretary?