The Department of Health (DoH) announced that it will not approve any new infrastructure projects for the remainder of the year, focusing instead only on those that have already broken ground.

DoH assistant secretary Dr. Albert Domingo disclosed the policy shift Saturday during a press briefing at the PinaSigla Health Fair 2025 in Luneta.

The agency’s announcement follows controversy over alleged ghost and substandard flood control projects handled by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Domingo confirmed the DoH has formed an internal inspection team to investigate any similar corruption issues within its own projects.

He also clarified that reports suggesting hundreds of health centers built by the agency were incomplete or problematic were inaccurate, stating they are complete and without issue.

He explained that the DoH directly handles and oversees infrastructure projects costing less than P5 million, while projects costing P5 million or more are administered by local governments.

Domingo addressed one such problem project: a P400-million seven-story annex building for the Justice Abad Santos Memorial Medical Center.

The project, which reportedly started in 2017, remains only in the digging stage despite two phases of the budget, totaling P200 million, already being paid to the contractor.

According to a DAILY TRIBUNE report, the stalled hospital annex was funded by the Department of Health. The P400 million building is set to receive a third phase of funding, estimated at P150 million, which would bring the total released budget to approximately P350 million.

This would leave only P50 million to complete the remaining construction of the building, which is currently only at the digging stage.