Albay's white elephant hospitals flagged by CoA

The Commission on Audit (CoA) called out the provincial government of Albay for the non-operation of various hospital buildings, aggregating P198.5 million despite having been completed for years.

In its 2023 report, CoA said four hospital facilities amounting to P198,470,627.02 had been finished for years but were not utilized immediately because they were not ready for operations.

According to the state auditors, the three-story building at Ziga District Memorial Hospital (ZDMH), which accounted for the biggest chunk of the budget at P159,545,649.88, remains unused due to a lack of furnishings.

Audit findings also revealed that four other buildings in ZMDH implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways, namely the Infectious Diseases Building, Morgue, Employees' Quarters, and the Chief of Hospital's Quarters, were also completed but were idle due to the absence of electric power supply.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in 2020, the provincial government of Albay has made an effort to address the health and safety of its constituents by entering into various contracts for the construction of hospital buildings and the rehabilitation of existing facilities.

This includes the ZDMH, Albay's biggest hospital, which has been congested, especially during peak months.

LGU hospital personnel told auditors that they are already expecting the furnishings for the three-story hospital building at ZMDH, but they were unable to provide an exact date or a funding scheme.

Meanwhile, he attributed the non-operation of the three buildings in Josefina Belmonte Duran Albay to a lack of a power supply source.

While CoA acknowledged that there are indeed instances where the facilities require higher budgetary requirements to be completed, the implementation is taking too long, and the buildings and structures are already depreciating from being idle.

"Should there have been proper planning, management should have had better cognition of the actual budgetary requirements for these facilities, that upon completion, such facilities may have been available for use," the auditing body said.