Duque blamed for P11.2B 'wasted' meds, vax

Former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III should be called to account for the P11.2 billion worth of drugs and medicines, including 7,035,161 Covid-19 vaccines, that went to waste in 2023, a House leader said Friday.

Deputy Majority Leader Janette Garin, also a former Department of Health (DOH) chief, made the call in light of the Commission on Audit’s (COA) report that stockpiled medicines and medical supplies — not to mention 24,539 bags of donated dialysis solution — amounting to P11,186,368,902.47 had expired in various DOH offices and warehouses.

The audit revealed that the backlog resulted from “inadequate procurement planning, and poor distribution and monitoring systems,” leading to the wastage of government resources.

Of the expired Covid-19 vials, 5,428,915 were procured by the DoH Central Office, while 1.5 million were donations to various offices or centers for health development. The dialysis solutions amounted to P37,561,409.33.

Although Garin did not explicitly name Duque, she stated that the “previous administration DOH head” must be held accountable.

"This happened, as seen by the COA, due to the weak leadership and management of the Department of Health during the previous administration," the Iloilo lawmaker emphasized.

According to Garin, program directors must ensure the proper utilization of medical-related items to prevent a recurrence of such a blunder. Failure to do so, she said, should result in dismissal from their posts.

“Those in the warehouse, they kept on inventoring. There should be accountability of who is the implementing department of the DOH. There should be close coordination that once purchased, it should be used, not only when they are about to expire,” she said.

The DOH explained to COA that the spoilage of Covid-19 vaccines was caused by the unwillingness of the priority group to receive booster shots, particularly senior citizens, as well as the reluctance of local government units and health facilities to accept the vaccines due to a lack of cold storage and doubts about their consumption, among other factors.

The DOH warehouse manager in Nonpareil told state auditors they were waiting for further instructions from end-users on what to do with the vaccines. Meanwhile, Supply Chain Management Service officers stated they had already prepared the report for the disposal of the vaccines in accordance with CoA rules and regulations.

Previously, Garin criticized incumbent Health Secretary Ted Herbosa for the lack of vaccines for infectious diseases, such as pertussis or whooping cough, which resulted in the deaths of 49 people as of April this year.

In 2023, the CoA also reported that medicines and other types of inventories at the DOH totaling P7.43 billion were damaged, nearly expired, or already expired.