MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Tuesday slammed the Department of Health (DOH) for putting to waste medicines purchased through taxpayers’ money but left to expire in storage places.
Recto said in Filipino that there are “48 billion reasons on why the DOH needs to be vaccinated against wasting medicines,” after the Commission on Audit revealed that P2.2 billion worth of drugs and medicines, medical and dental supplies purchased by the DOH are overstocked or have expired or nearly expired.
“Kailangan ng bakuna laban sa pagsasayang ng gamot (There has to be a vaccine against wasting medicines),” he said in a statement.
“Any doctor will tell you never to take expired medicine, but here the DOH is leading the way in letting taxpayer-bought medicines expire in bulk,” he added.
Recto noted that expired drugs include those for oral health. He said that “this news is as painful as a root canal,” considering that nine in 10 Filipinos suffer from tooth decay and only one in 10 is able to afford to see a dentist once each year.
He also said the Senate should include a special provision in the DOH budget for 2021 that enumerates guidelines and guarantees that the medicines being procured will be given to patients.
If the lack of supply chain specialists is to blame for the “rotting medications,” then they should be recruited using the 14,553 vacancies in the DOH, according to the senator.
“The DOH is also asking for P486 million for Procurement and Supply Chain Management Service for 2021. We should demand a bill of particulars for this,” he added.
Recto noted that COA, hinting of pilferage, also recommends the installation of CCTV cameras in and around the warehouses and stockrooms of medicines. He said this should be funded by the P486 million 2021 budget being requested by the DOH.
“This kind of ‘drug trafficking’ must be stopped,” he said.
“Overall, we need a ‘fast-acting relief’ from what has become a procurement sickness of this department so that drugs bought this year, and next year will not be wasted,” he added.
Likewise, he said Filipinos have almost 48 billion reasons to be worried—the P28.64 billion proposed budget of the DOH for drug procurement for 2021 and the P19.09 billion approved pre-pandemic budget for this year.
“Ordinarily, an undisturbed medicine cabinet is good news because it means no one has any need for any of its contents. But Filipinos are medicine-poor. Surely the 371 Filipinos who die daily from heart and hypertensive diseases and the 88 who succumb to diabetes every 24 hours need help,” he also said.