Department of Justice (DoJ) Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said on Sunday he will look into the reported “huge stock of expiring medicine and medical supplies” of the Department of Health (DoH) to pinpoint liabilities.
“If the matter goes beyond simple administrative liability, then I will direct the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to do its own probe,” Guevarra told journalists covering the DoJ.
He said he has not received any formal request from House Deputy Majority Leader Rep. Bernadette Dy of the Bagong Henerasyon Party-List.
Dy has urged the DoJ to look into the case of P367 million worth of “soon-to-expire” medicine and medical supplies as reported by the Commission on Audit (CoA).
The lady lawmaker said: “This huge (stock of) expiring medicines fiasco has dealt a heavy blow to the credibility and integrity of the DoH following the past eye operations and dialysis scams.”
On the basis of the CoA report, Dy asked Secretary Guevarra to instruct the NBI “to work on this and ensure that the documents and other evidence are preserved….”
Guevarra said he will secure a copy of the CoA report.
Published reports stated that COA’s audit showed that as of January 2018, the DoH had in its warehouses some P294.7 million worth of medicines and medical supplies with expiry dates on various days in January this year.
The audit report also stated that more than P72.3 million worth of medicines were distributed to DoH regional offices less than a year before their expiry dates.
DoH Undersecretary Eric Domingo had said that 80 per cent of the medicine and medical supplies has been distributed to areas which needed them most.
But he said the DoH will still look into what happened to the rest of the supplies stored in warehouses. (Rey Panaligan)
