Duque: Part of flagged P59-B unspent funds still being used

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Saturday in a taped briefing that part of the Department of Health’s P59-billion unspent fund in 2020 are still being used for medical workers' salaries and procurement of medicines.

In President Duterte's taped virtual "talk to the nation" on Saturday morning, Duque said that P24.6B of the P59-B unused funds covers unobligated allotments.

“Sa P24.6B unobligated funds, P17.8B ay kasalukuyang available po siya para gamitin ngayong taon”(Of the P24.6B unobligated funds, P17.8B is available for use this year), he said.

“Of this, ang nagamit na ng DOH ay P12.56B. Katumbas nito ay 72% noong P17.8B.  As of June 2021, gamit po ito” (Of this amount, the DOH has already used P12.56B which is 72% of the P17.8-B available funds. As of June 2021, these were all used), Duque pointed out.

He said, part of these funds are still being used to procure additional medicines and for the wages of medical workers.

“Bahagi rin nito ay inilaan para sa procurement ng medicines at pagbayad ng mga sweldo at benepisyo ng ating mga healthcare workers” (A part of these funds was intended for medicines and salaries and benefits), he said.

In its 2020 annual audit report, the Commission on Audit said the DOH had failed to spend P59.12B of its 2020 budget.

The agency also had transactions totaling P45.85B that were not supported with complete documentation.

Apart from these unspent amounts, the state auditors also noted “deficiencies” in the DOH’s utilization of funds intended for the COVID-19 response.

The deficiencies in the DOH’s utilization of P67.32B in COVID-19 funds led to missed opportunities to improve the country’s healthcare system amid a state of national emergency, COA Supervising Auditor Rhodora Ugay said last Tuesday. —LBG, GMA News