Leachon: DOH liable for 297 idle super health centers

Health reform advocate Doctor Tony Leachon said the Department of Health (DOH) should be held liable for the 297 super health centers that reportedly remain non-operational in Marikina despite being funded and reported as completed.

In a statement sent to Daily Tribune on Thursday, 16 October, Leachon branded DOH's discovery as "a sobering indictment of our healthcare system's dysfunction."

"These centers, envisioned as accessible hubs for primary care, now stand as silent witnesses to bureaucratic failure, wasted public funds, and broken promises," he lamented.

"This is not merely a lapse in logistics. It is a systemic failure that demands accountability," he added.

During DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa's visit to the Concepcion Dos Super Health Center in Marikina, he discovered that 297 super health centers as of 2021 remain non-operational.

The super health center was planned to be four-story with an additional rooftop, which means that the required funds are higher, amounting to P180 million.

"This is not just inefficiency—it is betrayal. It is a mockery of the very concept of Universal Health Care," Leachon said.

"Our healthcare system is not in shambles because we lack resources. It is in shambles because we tolerate waste, reward incompetence, and allow the powerful to escape scrutiny. Let this be the moment we demand better—not just for ourselves, but for every Filipino who walks into a health center expecting care, and finds instead an empty shell," he continued.

Herbosa, meanwhile, said he will submit the list of 297 non-operational super health centers to the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) on Thursday.

"When the DOH itself submits this list to the ICI, it confirms what many have long suspected: that the machinery of public health has been compromised by negligence, poor oversight, and possibly corruption," Leachon said.

"The question must be asked—who is responsible for this colossal waste? Is it the DOH for failing to monitor and ensure completion? Is it the contractors, who may have pocketed funds without delivering results? Or is it the local implementers who allowed these projects to stagnate without escalation? In truth, it is all of them. And it is the Filipino people who suffer the consequences," he added.

Leachon also urged the ICI to pursue the investigation with urgency, independence, and resolve.

"We must reject the normalization of failure. The DOH must be held accountable—not just through internal memos, but through public inquiry and legal consequence."