MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has scolded the Department of Health (DOH) for its over-procurement and poor distribution of medicine, resulting in the waste of millions of pesos in government funds due to the expiration of stocks.

Based on the COA’s annual audit report, the DOH, as of Dec. 31, 2018, has P18.449 billion worth of medicine purchased from 2015 to 2018 which have yet to be distributed to government hospitals, health centers and other government treatment facilities.

The COA said 70.23 percent or P12.991 billion of the undistributed medicines were bought in 2018, despite the high balance or stocks from the previous years.

The audit body said P294.767 million worth of drugs which remain in the DOH warehouses were found to be nearing expiration as of January 2019, while P30.353 million worth of medicine were found to have already expired.

“The scenario of constantly increasing the balance of drugs and medicine for distribution in the DOH warehouses precluded the immediate provision of quality health service to the intended beneficiaries of the different DOH health programs and is also reflective of ineffective inventory management of the agency,” the COA said.

It said the poor distribution of medicines also defies the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommended storage period of only up to six to nine months.

The COA said an inventory inspection by the audit team revealed that as of Jan. 31, the drugs remain at the DOH warehouses for one to 51 months from the date of delivery.

“If these ineffective or poor procurement planning and inventory management practices will not readily be addressed and corrected by the (DOH) Procurement and Supply Chain Management Team, it would have a chilling effect on the implementation of newly signed Republic Act No. 11223, also known as the Universal Health Care Act,” the COA said.

The COA noted that as of Jan. 31, 2019, medicines worth P294.767 million, which remain in the DOH warehouses, will be expiring in less than 12 months, “increasing the probability of losing their efficacy.”

The COA also said P19.165 million worth of drugs procured by the DOH Central Office which were distributed to the hospitals, centers and health facilities were also found to be nearing expiration as they were distributed less than one year before expiration.

Worse, the COA said P30.353 million worth of medicine distributed to the hospitals, centers and health facilities have already expired as of December 2018.