The Commission on Audit’s (COA) 2019 annual audit reported that the Department of Health (DOH) has bought almost P2 billion worth of medicine, medical and dental supplies that are now expired, near expiry or overstocked.
From the total, almost P30 million worth of supplies are expired, around P1.1 billion are overstocked while over P1 billion are near expiry.
The COA pointed out the health department’s poor procurement planning, inefficient and uncoordinated transfer/distribution, and lack of monitoring and proper storage of supplies have resulted to failure in the proper distribute of high quality medicine and health care services to the public and misuse of government funds.
The commission has recommended the proper use of government resources by ensuring limited procurement depending on the number needed for the year as well as expediting the distribution of medicine and dental supplies that are near expiry and slow-moving inventories.
The DOH explained that the supplies nearing expiration were procured in 2017 and 2018. The supplies were stocked in the warehouse due to the limited ability of the supply chain and management office to deliver the supplies to the centers for health development (CHDs) or the local government units (LGUs).
The health department has stated that the delivery of commodities to the CHDs were also affected by the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in March when the courier planned to continue the distribution.
The DOH assured that it will find a way to fix the problem and hired additional employees to help in the distribution section.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte has also ordered the DOH to distribute the near expiry medicine and supplies and release the overstock from the warehouses so that the public can make use of them.
Report from Mark Fetalco
