COA to NKTI: Return P4.2-million PCSO medical aid funds

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) called on the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) to account for more than P4.2 million in medical assistance funds that remain unliquidated since 2005.

State auditors said indigent patients are the ones being deprived of money from the government since the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) will not replenish the endowment funds until previous grants have been settled.

“The PCSO Endowment Fund represents the amount received by NKTI from PCSO intended for indigent patients. It covers medical expenses for donor and recipient’s workup, transplant operation, post-transplant expenses, dialysis, nephrology and urology expenses,” the COA’s 2010 audit report said.

The PCSO granted NKTI P29 million, in five tranches, between 1998 to 2005, subject to submission of liquidation reports.

“The four tranches have been fully liquidated while the fifth tranch in the amount of P4,250,000 remains unliquidated,” state auditors said. The COA said NKTI officials should order the immediate submission of the liquidation report to the PCSO to facilitate the replenishment of the fund, “so as not to hamper the delivery of services to the indigent patients who are in dire need of medical assistance.”

Expensive drugs

State auditors also called the attention of the hospital for not complying with Republic Act 9502 or the Cheaper Medicines Law in 2010.

They said a review of the price lists of drugs and medicines being sold at the pharmacy of the NKTI revealed that certain items, which were supposed to be included in the Government Mediated Access Prices (GMAP), are still being sold at the old higher price.

The COA report noted that the Department of Health (DOH) implemented the first round of Maximum Drug Retail Price (MDRP) in August 2009 and slashed the prices for another 98 products on March 31, 2010 under the GMAP, as initiated by 11 manufacturing firms. 

NKTI officials said the medicines sold at prices not in accordance with the GMAP were emergency purchases and that it “is the practice of NKTI to mark-up the acquisition cost to cover for the administrative expenses. Hence, these medicines were sold at the old price.”