P100-M worth of medical equipment already donated to AFP hospitals, Ubial says

The Department of Health (DOH) has already donated more than P100-million worth of equipment to military hospitals across the country, Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said on Monday.

This, as the department awaits for the procured medical equipment to be delivered to the hospitals for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

During the House budget briefing for the department, Ubial disclosed that the medical equipment they donated to AFP hospitals came from Department of Health hospitals.

"We actually donated several equipment of the DOH hospitals to selected AFP hospitals across the country," Ubial said.

"That's over P100 million worth of direct donations to the AFP hospitals," she added.

President Rodrigo Duterte had previously warned of replacing Ubial as health secretary if she would fail to procure the medical equipment needed for the military as soon as possible.

During his second State of the Nation Address, Duterte even said that a coup d'etat or mutiny is possible if medical equipment for military hospitals have not been delivered.

"If this is the way how you treat our soldiers, and they are dying now, and that machine was ordered a year ago, then [a] coup d'etat ... a mutiny is not a surprise," he said.

Ubial, however, said that they are already fast-tracking the procurement of the medical equipment.

"We have networked with the AFP to fast-track this particular procurement and it is now on post-qualification," she said.

"We actually networked with them to assist them in the fast-tracking of the procurement," she added. —KG, GMA News