P11.2 billion drugs, vaccines expired

CEBU, Philippines — Over P11 billion worth of drugs, medicines, medical supplies as well as COVID-19 vaccines were found expired in warehouses and health facilities of the Department of Health.

The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged DOH for its failure to utilize these drugs and medicines on time.

“Drugs, medicines and medical supplies amounting to P11,186,368,902.47, which includes 7,035,161 vials of COVID-19 vaccines, expired in the DOH warehouses and health facilities without being utilized due to inadequate procurement planning, and poor distribution and monitoring systems, which resulted in wastage of government funds and resources,” the COA said in its 2023 annual audit report on the DOH.

The audit body said this was on top of the P65.44 million in “nearly expiring inventories” found “unutilized and undistributed” in the DOH offices and health facilities as of December 31, 2023.

State auditors noted that these nearly expiring drugs and medicines, which remained under the DOH's inventories, have a shelf life of less than one year, thus, exposing government funds to another possible wastage.

The audit breakdown showed that the DOH Central Office (CO) was responsible for the bulk of the expired inventories amounting to P11.1 billion, composed of 6,754,724 vials of expired COVID-19 vaccines and 24,539 bags of donated dialysis solution.

According to the state auditors, 5,428,915 vials of expired COVID-19 vaccines under the DOH Central Office custody were procured by the government while 1,325,809 vials were received as donations.

The COA said the expiration of this huge volume of vaccines exposed the DOH's “inability to safeguard, manage and utilize health funds and resources economically and effectively.”

“Further, this condition had entailed storage and manpower costs, which could have aided the government in rendering other priority services,” it added.

As for the expired dialysis solution bags, the audit body noted that the items were still received by the DOH Central Office even if they have less than one and a half years “before expiration”.  As a result, the COA noted, most of the intended recipient hospitals and facilities refused to accept the items due to “lack of storage space” and because they can longer utilize the solutions.

The COA said this contravened the DOH's own guidelines, under its Administrative Order No. 9-B series of 1998, which states that for the acceptance of drugs, medicines, reagents and other medical supplies, the expiration date “should not be less than two years from the date of manufacture and not less than one and a half years from the date of delivery.”

The other health facilities identified in the audit report with expired inventories were the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium in Caloocan City amounting to P15.974 million; Davao Center for Health Development (P5.272 million); DOH's Center for Health Development I (P5.245 million); Region II Trauma and Medical Center in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya (P4.989 million); Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center in La Union (P4.678 million); Southern Isabela Medical Center in Santiago, Isabela (P3.243 million); Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center in Ilocos Norte (P2.667 million); Valenzuela Medical Center (P1.755 million); Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City (P1.463 million); and Region 1 Medical Center in Dagupan, Pangasinan (P716,738).

Among the deficiencies and lapses noted in these government hospitals and facilities were inefficient procurement planning, absence of control/monitoring policies, lack of distribution system policies and poor inventory/supply management system.

The COA recommended to the secretary of health to issue guidelines on the proper treatment or disposal of the expired COVID-19 vaccines and “ensure that proper planning, reasonable allocation, duties, and accountabilities of DOH offices” shall be in place for future procurement and receipts of vaccines.

The COA said the DOH must also require the concerned facilities with nearly expiring inventories to submit their catch-up plan and consumption status reports to ensure the “proper monitoring of the quantity balances and consumption of each drug and medicines.” – /Philippine Star News Service/FPL (FREEMAN)