COA: DOH failed to use P306.73M disaster risk reduction funds

The Department of Health (DOH) has failed to obligate P306.73 million worth of disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) funds in 2020, state auditors have found.

In its 2020 audit report, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the DOH only utilized 84.71% of its Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, 86.98% of its Quick Response Fund, and 76.39% of its Calamity Fund.

COA said the DOH was appropriated with P1.39 billion for its Health Emergency Management Program in 2020.

State auditors said their verification found that the low utilization of Calamity Funds by operating units was caused by lapses in procurement activities, absence of face-to-face training, travel restrictions, and lack of takers, among others.

COA said the unobligated funds totaling P306.73 million “are considered very material, enough to affect the level of efficiency put into managing the DRRM funds.”

“The condition demonstrates that not enough programs and projects were implemented during the year in order to mitigate related risks and alleviate the people’s condition faster to recovery,” it said.

“It likewise manifests that there was no efficient use of fiscal resources despite hefty fund appropriations/allocations and that program implementation was not maximized during the state of calamity/national emergency, a time when an effective health delivery system is most needed by the people,” it added.

The DOH Health Emergency Management Bureau (HEMB) told COA that the coronavirus pandemic led to the slow mobilization of DOH personnel and processing of documents, and the discontinuation of some activities.

The HEMB also said the DRRM funds were obligated and disbursed by the DOH Central Office to the operating units and that the utilization of the funds was therefore out of the Central Office’s control.

In its rejoinder, COA stressed that “a source agency which transferred funds to an implementing agency retains and is not divested of responsibility over such funds.”

State auditors also flagged the DOH over various deficiencies in its use of COVID-19 funds totaling P67.32 billion in the same audit report. 

The DOH maintained that it has already addressed most of the major deficiencies flagged by COA. —KBK, GMA News