THE Office of the Vice President failed to use P195.088 million or 61.36 percent of its Medical Assistance Program (MAP) funds in 2019, which meant fewer needy Filipino patients were helped by the agency during the year.
This meant that out of the OVP’s P317.923 million MAP funding, it was only able to release P122.835 million.
“This resulted in lesser than the expected number of patients assisted through hospital fund transfers during the year. The unutilized fund was idle for the rest of the fiscal year contrary to (rules) on the efficient management of funds,” the Commission on Audit said.
The OVP said it had to comply with election laws requiring the suspension of grant of medical assistance releases as it failed to secure an exemption from the Commission on Election when it filed on Jan. 10, 2019.
The OVP medical assistance is managed by the Public Assistance Division which acts to supplement government healthcare programs to assist poor, marginalized, vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals. Under the program, people who seek help obtain cash releases depending on the nature of medical procedure involved.
In the previous system, the assistance ranged from P5,000 for those seeking help in the cost of medicines or laboratory procedures; P10,000 for hemodialysis; P15,000 for hospital admission or surgery; and PP25,000 for chemotherapy or radiation.
For 2019, the OVP adopted a different approach to prevent the build-up of long lines of people by issuing guarantee letters to service providers including hospitals, dialysis centers, specialized clinics, drug stores and medical equipment distributors.
The patients were supposed to get the help directly from the medical and support facilities but unfamiliarity with the new guidelines resulted in less requests and low utilization of the available funds.
“The bigger chunk of unutilized fund comes from hospital fund transfer, which pertains to fund transfers and funds obligated to government hospitals and implementing agencies to pay for the guarantee letters provided to qualified individuals,” the audit team noted.
The year 2019, being an election year, also adversely affected program implementation.
The OVP said aside from complying with the election laws on suspension of grant of medical assistance releases, availability of MAP funding in public hospitals outside Metro Manila remains largely unknown as very few people availed of medical assistance.
The COA recommended that the OVP consider alternative service delivery strategies including reverting back to the release of direct cash assistance to recipients who cannot avail of guarantee letters.
Likewise, it said needy patients should be allowed to avail of more assistance as it noted that the new guidelines reduced the frequency of requests from six months to one year.
The OVP yesterday said it has received the highest audit rating from COA, the second year the office has earned such rating under the leadership of Vice President Leni Robredo.
In its July 31 report signed by supervising auditor Edna P. Salaguban, the COA rendered an “unqualified opinion” on the fairness of the presentation of the OVP’s financial statement for Fiscal Year 2019.
An unqualified opinion is considered the best opinion that a government agency can receive from state auditors, according to the OVP.
“We would like to thank our staff, especially the administrative staff, who were really the ones in charge of the processes. Thank you, OVP family because this our collective effort),” Robredo said in Filipino.
She said all government offices should aspire to earn such rating from COA, because an unqualified opinion means that there is wrongdoing in the agency or department.
The OVP said it has “taken leaps to achieve its ultimate goal of delivering quality service to the Filipino people.”
“This includes putting in place its own internal controls for a more prudent spending of public funds, which the office observes along with the rules and regulations set by oversight agencies,” it said. — With Wendell Vigilia
Moreover, the OVP pointed out that it has sustained its ISO 9001:2015 accreditation, which it pursued in 2017, “in a bid to streamline its processes, improve its various units, and promote a sense of honor and commitment among its staff.”
