A Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA) report released by the Commission on Audit (COA) this week tagged four devolved hospitals in the province of Bohol for drugs and medicines procurement in 2022 that exceeded unit prices in the Philippine Drug Price Reference Index (DPRI) ranging from 428 to 3,478 percent.
By its computation, the audit team said the difference between the cost based on the hospitals’ Project Procurement Management Plan (PPMP) against the DPRI amounted to P22.8 million.
The report, released by the COA last January 9, identified the hospitals as the Garcia Memorial Provincial Hospital (GMPH), the Catigbian District Hospital (CDH), the Cong. Simeon G. Toribio Memorial Hospital (CSGTMH), and the Teodoro B. Galagar District Hospital (TBGDH).
A copy of the 39-page report was received by the office of Bohol Gov. Erico Aristotle Aumentado on January 2, 2024.
The audit said there are 10 devolved hospitals in Bohol or state-run health institutions whose management and operations have been transferred from the Department of Health (DOH) to the local governments.
It said the four hospitals named were chosen for the CPA because they had the highest budgets in 2022.
The report was limited to the drugs and medicines inventory management of the identified hospitals, including review of procurement procedures, issuance and maintenance of stocks, and monitoring of reports of physical count of inventories (RPCI).
A breakdown of the audit computation showed the biggest price differences were found with the TGBDH totaling P7.69 million, closely followed by GMPH with P6.96 million.
CSGTMH was found to have exceeded DPRI costs by P5.88 million, and CDH by P2.27 million.
“High percentage of drugs and medicines for CY 2022 of the subject devolved hospitals exceeded the prices set in the DPRI 9th Edition attributable to the lack of delineation of duties as to reviewing and ensuring compliance with the index resulting in higher costs of drugs and medicines for patients,” the report noted.
Under RA No. 9502 or the Cheaper Medicines Law, procurement of drugs and medicines are supposed to observe the PMRI to ensure protection of public health through access to affordable quality medication.
“The DPRI is meant to reduce the wide and extreme variations in the procurement prices of medicines in the public sector, thereby, improving efficiency of procurement, stretch the health care budget by generating savings and prevent corruption in the sourcing of essential medicines across the national and local governments,” the audit team said.
In TBGDH, it was found that up to 93 percent of drugs and medicines in its PPMP exceeded the DPRI.
On the other hand, 80 percent was recorded in the case of GMPH, 78 percent in CSGTMH, and 74 percent in CDH.
Annex C of the report listed various generic medicines that were purchased at much higher prices by the four hospitals, including Amlodipine 10 milligram tablets (in boxes of 100) which was posted on the DPRI at only P53 but was written on the PPMP of TBGDH at P280 or a price difference of P227, a variance of 428 percent.
In CDH, the audit noted that potassium chloride 20 milliliter vials on DPRI was set at P23 but was listed on the hospital’s PPMP at P823 or a 3,478 percent price difference.
