DoH under fire over P27-B unobligated funds

The Department of Health (DoH) has come under fire over P27 billion in unobligated allotments in 2022, of which P3.3 billion has already lapsed.

At Tuesday's hearing of the House Committee on appropriations, DoH Undersecretary Achilles Gerard Bravo said the agency failed to obligate P27 billion in total appropriations, while P2.82 billion remained unreleased.

Rep. Paul Daza expressed dismay with the DoH's inability to obligate such substantial funds, taking into account that at the time, the country still grappled with the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and health care workers and financially challenged patients were crying out for monetary help.

"That's very sad to hear that. With so many issues with DoH, you know, unpaid healthcare workers, increasing salaries, additional services subsidies for indigent patients, we have P27 billion unused [funds], and you cannot use that money anymore because it's already 2024," Daza lamented.

"Within the department, you could have been able to realign that for additional personal benefits; you could have probably realigned it for additional medical assistance to indigent patients," he added.

Meanwhile, in 2023, Bravo disclosed that the DoH still has an unobligated allotment amounting to P20.8 billion.

"That's current and [continuing appropriation]. For the current, it was around P19 billion. For the [continuing appropriation], this [is] around P1.83 billion," Bravo informed the panel.

He noted that the DoH is currently summarizing the continuing appropriation and that "we expect to request from DBM [Department of Budget and Management] the realignment of this to major appropriations for the coming year because it will lapse this coming December."

"We expect that we will be able to utilize all the [continuing appropriation] for 2023, and we should be able to use it by year-end," he said.

The panel, presided over by vice chair Janette Garin, flagged various irregularities that the agency committed during the pandemic, including the procurement of over P7 billion worth of expired medicines, drugs, and other types of inventory.

"The pandemic blunders became possibly plunderous activities to take advantage because everybody was drowned in fear," Garin said.