Senator: Probe P11.2-B wastage of medical supplies
Sen. Joel Villanueva —Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau
MANILA, Philippines – Why did the Department of Health (DOH) allow billions of pesos worth of medical products to end up in garbage bins?
Sen. Joel Villanueva wants an answer to this question as he sought a Senate inquiry into the expiration and wastage of some P11.2 billion worth of drugs and other medical supplies that the DOH procured in previous years.
In filing Senate Resolution No. 1326, Villanueva underscored the need to make health officials accountable for wasting public funds, saying their failure to address the recurring problem on the proper utilization of health-care products was “unjustifiable.”
He noted that the Commission on Audit had called out the DOH in 2023 for its “inadequate procurement planning and poor distribution and monitoring systems” that resulted in the wastage of medical supplies.
READ: DBM told: Include medical supplies in centralized purchasing system
“There is an urgent need to exact accountability from government officials and agencies liable for the billions of pesos of scarce government resources lost to inadequate procurement planning, inefficiency and possible gross negligence and/or misfeasance,” Villanueva said in his resolution, a copy of which was sent to the media on Saturday.
Persistent issue
“The DOH’s response and justification for this persistent issue remain grossly inadequate, falling short in its fundamental duty to safeguard public health and ensure efficient use of vital public health resources,” he said.
According to the senator, the government could have just allotted the funds that the DOH spent for the expired medicines to pay for the hospital expenses of ordinary Filipinos.
“To safeguard government resources against further loss and wastage, there is a need to determine the root cause, extent and consequences of the losses incurred by the DOH due to expired, overstocked, slow-moving and nearly expired and damaged health-related products,” Villanueva said.
