DOH assures: P9B fund for health facilities properly accounted for

(FILE) Workers construct one of the biggest quarantine facilities in the country at Bagong Nayong Pilipino in Paranaque City on Monday, August 10, 2020. The 525-bed isolation facility is expected to open on August 25 which will cater to mild and asymptomatic patients only according to CoVid19 czar Vince Dizon.-INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) assured Friday that the P9-billion Bayanihan funds for the construction of health infrastructure amid the COVID-19 pandemic were properly accounted for.

This comes after Sen. Risa Hontiveros urged the DOH to account for the funds allotted for makeshift hospitals and isolation facilities amid reports that hospitals are being overwhelmed by the number of COVID-19 patients.

According to the DOH, the funds were used to construct temporary isolation and quarantine facilities, field hospitals, and dormitories, and to expand the capacity of government hospitals through the procurement of various medical equipment.

“The DOH assured that every centavo of the questioned funds, as well as all other public funds provided to the Department, are all accounted for and are available for the public to access and examine upon request,” the health agency said in a statement.

The DOH likewise vowed to provide full expenditure reports to the offices of senators requesting the said data.

The DOH explained that of the P4.49 billion provided under Bayanihan 1, P4.36 billion was utilized as of December 31, 2020, to procure medical equipment including mechanical ventilators, biological safety cabinets, laminar flow hoods, and biomedical microcentrifuges.

Meanwhile, of the P4.5 billion provided under Bayanihan 2, P3.88 billion was utilized as of December 31 for the construction of temporary isolation and quarantine facilities, field hospitals, dormitories for health front-liners, and expansion of government capacity across the country, according to the department.

Of the remaining P617 million, P308 million was used to procure mechanical ventilators, portable X-ray machines, hemodialysis machines, high flow nasal cannula oxygen machines, and other equipment required for increasing the testing capacity of laboratories.

The DOH stressed that it “has always been committed to upholding utmost integrity and transparency in fulfillment of its mandate to establish and maintain an accessible health system that provides quality health services to every Filipino.”

It also noted that “now is not the time to be fragmented in the pandemic response and called for unity from the rest of the government and the public as the country faces an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.”

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