MANILA, Philippines --The Commission on Audit has found P42.1 million worth of defective and unutilized medical equipment in various government hospitals nationwide.

In its 2008 audit report on the Department of Health (DOH), the commission said that it it had made recommendations on the proper use and maintenance of equipment and facilities to prevent waste of funds and ensure the delivery of quality health care.

Despite this, COA said, "we still noted a number of defective and unutilized equipment, patient's wards and buildings of DOH retained hospitals due to various reasons," the COA said in its report.

These were the Quirino Memorial Medical Center in Metro Manila, Conner District Hospital in Apayao, Veterans Regional Hospital in Cagayan Valley, Bataan General Hospital, Batangas Regional Hospital, Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital in Albay, Mindanao Central Sanitarium in Iligan City, Northern Mindanao Medical Center in Cagayan de Oro City, the Center for Health Development (CHD) for Caraga, and the Caraga Regional Hospital in Surigao de Norte.

The COA findings included a defective water waste treatment facility worth P21.9 million donated by the DOH and an Austrian project to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center that was repaired in 2007 and again conked out after a few months.

At the Batangas Regional Hospital, eight units of ventilators worth P6.2 million were defective.

At the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, equipment worth P3.1 million that included a fetal heart monitor and a cardiac monitor have not been working since 2006.

The Mindanao Central Sanitarium had an anesthesia machine worth P1.9 million acquired in 2007 but it has remained unused because the operating room has been undergoing repair and the hospital lacked funds for the purchase of laboratory supplies. The hospital also has "no authority to conduct major surgery," the COA noted.

The Caraga Regional Hospital has five sub-units of machines for the neo-natal intensive care unit and the pedriatic ICU worth P720,000 that have not been used since they were bought in 2006 because of "lack of trained personnel" to operate the equipment.

The COA also found out that 11 hospital facilities and CHDs in various parts of the country were "unutilized, unfinished, and not properly maintained.

The patients' wards of the Philippine Orthopedic Center were not used "for a period ranging from one to 20 months due to certain defects, such as out-of-order air conditioning units, toilets, faucets, and doors and with grounded switch, broken window glasses and leaking ceiling," the COA said.

Hospital officials explained to the COA reasons for the deficiencies.

For example, the Mindanao Central Sanitarium management said renovation of the operating room could begin only in 2009 with the provision of funds in this year?s national budget. The CHD director has vowed to discuss with the DOH the absence of authorization for the sanitarium in conducting major surgeries.