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DOH to conduct own probe of P833-M vaccine purchase
By IBARRA C. MATEO
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The Department of Health has formed its own internal panel to investigate the controversial procurement of the pneumococcal vaccines amounting to P833.6 million in 2012, Acting Health Secretary Janette Loreto-Garin said on Tuesday.
At a press briefing, Garin said the DOH investigating body would “fully coordinate and fully cooperate” with the ongoing investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation.
“Secretary [Enrique] Ona gave clear and direct instructions to create a committee to collate all the documents and come up with the exact chronology of events (on the pneumococcal conjugate vaccines procurement). Walang dagdag, walang bawas,” Garin told reporters.
DOH spokesperson Lyndon Lee Suy said the DOH panel's findings will be part of the official pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) procurement report that Health Secretary Enrique Ona would submit to President Benigno Aquino III.
Lee Suy said the panel intends to turn in its findings before the end of Ona's 30-day leave on November 30.
Garin said that on Oct. 28, Ona called her to a private meeting to inform her that he would go on leave due to his “recurrent allergy” and that “he needed more time to assess what was happening to this important issue,” alluding to the PCV controversy.
No less than President Aquino said Ona was taking a leave of absence so that he could prepare an explanation as regards issues surrounding the country's immunization program.
On Monday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the NBI has been investigating since June the DOH's purchase of expensive vaccines in 2012 despite a recommendation to buy more cost-effective ones.
De Lima said Ona and Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag knew about the procurement.
DOH spokesperson Lyndon Lee Suy said the DOH panel's findings will be part of the official pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) procurement report that Health Secretary Enrique Ona would submit to President Benigno Aquino III.
Lee Suy said the panel intends to turn in its findings before the end of Ona's 30-day leave on November 30.
Garin said that on Oct. 28, Ona called her to a private meeting to inform her that he would go on leave due to his “recurrent allergy” and that “he needed more time to assess what was happening to this important issue,” alluding to the PCV controversy.
No less than President Aquino said Ona was taking a leave of absence so that he could prepare an explanation as regards issues surrounding the country's immunization program.
On Monday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the NBI has been investigating since June the DOH's purchase of expensive vaccines in 2012 despite a recommendation to buy more cost-effective ones.
De Lima said Ona and Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag knew about the procurement.
Allegations of irregularities surround the first-ever procurement by the DOH of the PCV in 2012, which was a part of the government’s Expanded Vaccination Program.
Vaccination program
Vaccination program
The Expanded Vaccination Program aims to control and manage, among others, pneumonia, which kills 13 out of 100,000 children aged one to five years old. Pneumonia is the number one cause of death among Filipino children, especially those from the under-privileged families.
About 333,000 children would have benefited from the vaccination program.
“We appeal to everybody that since this issue is already before investigating agencies, we reiterate that the DOH family will fully cooperate and fully coordinate. But this is also the last time that we will talk about this issue,” Garin said.
“The department has a lot of issues and work that we have to take care of. Allow us to move on and work for the betterment of the society,” Garin said.
Quoting from the statement of Ona, Lee Suy said that in “2012, the unit cost for PCV-10 was US$15.40, while that of PCV-13 was US$16.34, or a cost difference of almost $1.00.”
There are more than 90 types of pneumococcal bacteria, according to the World Health Organization. PC-13 protects against 13 of these pneumococcal bacteria. These 13 strains cause most severe infections in children and about half of infections in adults.
Cost effectiveness
Cost effectiveness
The DOH procured PCV-10 in 2012, were delivered November 2013, and were used for vaccination starting January 2014.
“It is in the appreciation of the cost effectiveness of these two competing vaccines for Filipino children that usual medical discussion and differences is being presumed to have been tinged with graft. This is what the committee is investigating closely,” Ona said in his statement.
“We assure the public of the DOH’s strict adherence to transparency, integrity, and honesty to all government transactions especially to the motto of Daang Matuwid. Our review committee will leave no stone unturned,” Ona said.
Lee Suy refused to give details on the DOH investigating panel, except to say that it is composed of “select DOH executive committee members and former DoH employees.”
Meanwhile, reporters went to the office of Tayag to interview him. He refused. —KG/NB, GMA News
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