COA: Stop PDAF-like practice in gov’t hospitals

GOVERNMENT hospitals have been told by the Commission on Audit (COA) to stop requiring indigent patients to present guarantee letters from their district representatives before they could receive medical assistance.

The COA found in its audit of the Department of Health (DOH) that not all of the P1.8 billion set aside last year for the hospitalization and medical needs of indigent patients was utilized.

In its 2015 audit report released on Thursday, the COA said only P285 million, or 46 percent, of the P616 million downloaded to seven government hospitals and five DOH regional offices last year under the Medical Assistance Program (MAP) was spent.

“Stop the use of the same system as the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) which required referral from legislators prior to availment and utilization of program funds,” the COA told the DOH.

The PDAF or congressional pork barrel, since outlawed, required beneficiaries to present endorsement letters from legislators in order to obtain funds. The practice was stopped after billions of pesos intended for projects to benefit their constituents ended up in legislators’ pockets.

The COA warned that the practice at government hospitals “may be misconstrued as meaning that only the legislator’s constituents can avail of MAP assistance.”

The COA also found that four government hospitals had used MAP funds totaling P145 million on patients who were endorsed by legislators, regardless if they were indigent or not.

“The fund is supposed to be for financial assistance for all indigent patients,” the COA said.

State auditors also found that P163 million in MAP funds were used by nine hospitals not on indigent patients but to procure medicines and supplies for general use, contrary to DOH guidelines.

The COA said the DOH’s own rules on the use of MAP funds “mentioned no participation of any lawmaker.”

Auditors said some social workers had admitted that “coordinators for sponsoring lawmakers signed referral letters for their chosen patient beneficiaries, which the hospital accommodated.”