President Rodrigo Duterte wants an investigation of the allegedly overpriced COVID-19 tests to be paid by the PhilHealth, which a Senate inquiry had uncovered. | JMAurelioINQ MRamosINQ
Roque was referring to the Sansure Natch CS Fully Automated Nucleic Acid Extraction System purchased by the private sector for Project ARK priced at P1.75 million per unit and the Thermo Scientific King Fisher Flex Automated Nucleic Acid Extraction Machine, amounting to P4 million per unit. The overprice was flagged by Lacson during the Senate committee of the whole hearing on Tuesday.
The tests are intended to determine whether a person was infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the severe respiratory disease. Duque said that if the procedure was not paid by the DOH but the test kit was donated, the price would be P5,450 per test.Roque said he would give transcripts of the Senate hearing and other documents to Undersecretary Jesus Melchor Quitain, the officer in charge of the Office of the Special Assistance to the President.
The opposition senator said the payments were made through PhilHealth’s Interim Reimbursement Mechanism .Quoting the agency’s website, he said the IRM was intended to help medical facilities “respond to the onslaught of COVID-19 in the country.” Since the government was aiming to test 2 million Filipinos, Drilon said at least P8.3 billion in taxpayer money could have been wasted.
On Friday, Morales told the Inquirer that “only about P13 billion [had] actually [been] released and will still be liquidated submitting proof of purchase of test kits and [personal protective equipment].”Following accounting procedures, hospitals or health-care facilities will submit a liquidation document listing expense items that they had charged to PhilHealth. After examining the document, the agency may opt to disallow certain charges.
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