DOH suspends Pharmally deliveries, probes face shield ‘tampering’

FACE UP The Senate blue ribbon committee resumes its hearing on government deals with Pharmally involving billions of pesos worth of face shields and masks, personal protective equipment and COVID-19 test kits on Thursday. —LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has suspended further deliveries of face shields from the controversial Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation as it investigates the alleged tampering of manufacturing dates of face shields procured from the company.

“The DOH has decided to suspend acceptance and further deliveries of face shields from Pharmally, pending the conclusion of the investigations in the Department,” Atty. Charade Mercado-Grande, Undersecretary of the Health Regulation Team, said in a statement.

“We are aware of the statements made by Pharmally employees about the tampering of the production date on the certificate. Out of prudence and caution, the DOH has decided to suspend the succeeding deliveries to protect the interest and safety of our healthcare workers,” she added.

The DOH said that upon the directive of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, it is conducting a “comprehensive review” of procurement transactions which includes inspection of incoming or currently housed stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE) procured from Pharmally either directly or indirectly through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).

According to DOH, Pharmally previously won the bidding for the face shield contract with the department, which was a separate procurement from PS-DBM. The agency added that the procurement of face shields was done through a competitive bidding process where eight prospective bidders submitted their prices for the face shields last March.

The Department said that Pharmally has delivered over 500,000 pieces of face shields. However, the DOH has not yet paid the company since it has yet to complete the deliveries of the procured items.

“We are fast-tracking our investigation on the face shields delivered to the DOH and if those are the ones being referred to in the Senate hearing. If the face shields are proven to be tampered with, we would definitely take necessary legal remedies,” said Grande.

“The DOH assures that prior to sending out any procured items for use by our healthcare workers, these are duly inspected. Likewise, health facilities have to inspect, count, and verify the items they received from the DOH,” she added.

Meanwhile, the DOH assured that it will further implement stringent measures of inspection during delivery to ensure that procured supplies are not damaged nor have exceeded their shelf life. The agency stressed that it does not tolerate practices of tampering with any procured supplies.

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