SEN. Joel Villanueva has filed separate resolutions urging the appropriate committee to investigate billions of pesos worth of wasted healthcare products and determine the cause of high vaccination hesitancy among Filipinos.
Villanueva said Senate Resolution No. 1326 filed on April 2 aims to get to the root cause behind the billions of pesos worth of healthcare products that have expired and have not yet been distributed but remain stocked in warehouses.
Villanueva said a 2023 Commission on Audit (COA) report showed that the healthcare products valued at P11.186 billion consisted of various medicines, vaccines, and other products that are under the care of the Department of Health (DOH).
He said the wasted products were more than 11,000 percent higher compared to the ones wasted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which were pegged at P95.151 million.
“It is unacceptable that billions of pesos were wasted as several medicines and supplies were just stocked in the DOH. Millions of Filipinos lineup every day trying to avail of free medicines from the government, and yet we waste them,” Villanueva said.
He said P11.186 billion could have been realigned to other government projects, which will benefit millions of Filipinos.
“The P11.186 billion in wasted government funds could have been used for the following: provide medical assistance to an additional 419,828 beneficiaries under the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (using the 2023 average of P25,645 per patient), cover the hemodialysis session of at least 1.761 million beneficiaries (at P6,350 pers session), construction and equipment of 3,728 basic primary care facilities (at P3 million cost per facility based on the DOH licensing standard estimate), (and to) cover the four-year education of 129,545 scholars under the Doktor Para sa Bayan Program (at P1.436 million per scholar),” Villanueva said.
He also filed Senate Resolution No. 1334 last April 3, which will look into the country’s immunization program amid the high vaccine hesitancy rates and the re-emergence of vaccine-preventable diseases in the country.
“From 2024 onwards, the DOH has set a target of 95 percent full immunization coverage for children under five years old. However, data in recent years show that this remains unmet due to multiple factors, including supply chain issues, logistical gaps, and public mistrust,” Villanueva said.
He added that as of January 20 this year, the DOH’s partial Field Health Services Information System (FHSIS) data for 2024 shows that only 61 percent or 1,459,353 out of 2,392,391 eligible children in the Philippines, are considered “fully immunized.”
“This puts the vulnerable population at continued risk from vaccine-preventable diseases such as pertussis, diphtheria, and measles,” he added.
Villanueva said the DOH National Immunization Program received a budget of P60 billion from 2015 to 2024. He said he will also file a resolution to investigate the failure to pay PhilHealth benefits as the state insurer and the DOH’s failure to reimburse private hospitals on time, resulting in P59.6 billion in unpaid claims over the last seven years.
