Filipino Nurses United secretary general and Makabayan senatorial candidate Nurse Alyn Andamo strongly condemned the Department of Health (DOH) for its mishandling of ₱11 billion worth of expired medicines and vaccines that has been recently exposed.

“The DOH is liable for gross negligence in the massive squandering of public funds amid many patients’ suffering and deaths due to shortage and high cost of medicines,” she said.

According to a December 3 Commission on Audit report, the expired medicines include 7,035,161 vials of unused COVID-19 vaccines from 2023 and 24,539 bags of dialysis solution. These items are stored in DOH warehouses and health facilities.

The DOH reasoned that the vaccines expired because many senior citizens refused to get booster shots, and most of the vaccines had a shelf life of only one and a half years. They also claimed that local governments refused to accept them because they don’t have cold storage facilities.

“The DOH must be held accountable to the public for the waste of public funds,” Andamo stated. She reminded that in 2022, there were also ₱7.43 billion worth of medicines wasted due to DOH negligence.

This is happening while available free medicines are low in public health facilities, she noted.

“Medicines are extremely expensive in the country because there is no national pharmaceutical industry, and the government, in collusion with corporations, has turned health into a business,” Andamo added.