Tagaytay City’s P11.8M medicine procurement not supported by FDA certification

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TAGAYTAY City officials have been told to explain the absence of Certificates of Product Registry (CPR) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about P11.81 million worth of drugs and medicines purchased from four suppliers in 2023.

State auditors likewise questioned the failure of the local government to submit the Acceptance and Inspection Report (AIR) to the audit team within 24 hours from delivery which hampered “timely and effective inspection.”

The Commission on Audit called out city government officials for disregarding the Joint Administrative Order No. 2008-01 issued by the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the FDA, and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) which bars manufacture, importation, sale, distribution, or transfer of drugs without the required CPR.

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The COA Circular No. 92-386 made the submission of the reports of inspection mandatory within 24 hours of acceptance of delivery.

“Post audit of disbursements revealed that the procured medicines had no supporting Certificate of Product Registration from the BFAD, thus, there was no reasonable assurance that the medicines were safe and within the quality standard of the government,” the COA pointed out.

Records obtained by the audit team showed there were 24 procurement transactions from January to November 2023 involving four private suppliers.

Rizza Drugstore was listed in nine transactions ranging from P10,353 to P911,076 for a total of P3.27 million; VLG Medical Equipment and Supplies Trading made six deliveries ranging from P164,782 to P930,527 for a total of P4.54 million; Great “R” Enterprises was listed in five purchases ranging from P11,1755 to P65,062 for a total of P226,646; and A Cube Pharma Distributor had four transactions all close to a million for a total of P3.63 million.

All the purchases were intended for the Tagaytay City Health Office or the Ospital ng Tagaytay.

The COA recommended that the city mayor require the City Health Officer to compel the four suppliers to submit copies of the CPR from the FDA.

In reply, the LGU said the city health officer, the Ospital ng Tagaytay and other concerned officers have been directed to strictly comply with the submission of the acceptance and inspection report as well as the CPR from the suppliers to the Accounting Office.

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