QUEZON CITY — The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday for over P11 billion worth of drugs, medicines, and medical supplies that expired without being used in 2023.

In its audit report, COA said the expired supplies worth P11,186,368,902.47 included 7,035,161 vials of COVID-19 vaccines expired in DOH warehouses and health facilities.

State auditors said this was a result of "inadequate procurement planning and poor distribution and monitoring systems" that resulted in wastage of government funds and resources.

This is contrary to Section 2 of Presidential Decree No. 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines.

COA said the expired and damaged COVID-19 vaccines were tagged as "quarantine."

According to the report, the DOH warehouse manager in Nonpareil, an international freight and cargo service provider, explained "they are just waiting for further instruction with the end-user on what to do with the vaccines."

Supply Chain Management Service (SCMS) officers told state auditors they already prepared a report for the disposal of vaccines in accordance with the Warehouse Operations Manual and COA rules and regulations.

"The COVID-19 vaccines wastage were brought by: (1) the non-willingness of priority group for the succeeding booster shots, particularly SC [senior citizens]; (2) reluctance of LGUs and health facilities in accepting the vaccines due to lack in cold room storage and doubt if they could consume the same; and (3) most of quarantine or expired vaccines delivered were already in its extended life," the report read.

A bulk of the expired vials or 5,428,915 were procured by the DOH Central Office, while 1.5 million were donations to various offices or centers for health development.

24,539 bags of donated dialysis solution worth P37,561,409.33 also expired in 2023.

Based on the report, the items were received less than one and a half years before expiry and recipients refused to accept these due to lack of storage space or can no longer be utilized.

"In addition, inventories nearing expiration or those with less than one-year shelf life amounting to a total of P65,444,524.35 were also found unutilized and undistributed in DOH offices and health facilities as of December 31, 2023," the COA said.

49.7 million COVID-19 jabs wasted: DOH

State auditors issued recommendations to Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa to address the matter.

"We recommended that the SOH issue guidelines to the SCMS, warehouses, CHDs, OUs, LGUs and private sectors as to the proper treatment/disposal on the expired COVID-19 vaccines, and henceforth, ensure that proper planning, reasonable allocation, duties and accountabilities of DOH Offices are established for procurement and receipt of vaccines," it said.

The DOH said there is an ongoing inspection being conducted by the Disposal Committee for the vaccines still stored at DOH warehouses.

It also told COA that proactive measures are being implemented in the procurement, storage and inventory of vaccines.

In 2023, COA also reported DOH's P7.43 billion worth of medicines and other inventories were damaged, nearly expired, or already expired.

COA: DOH’s P7.43-B medicines and other inventories expired, nearly expired, damaged