Pangilinan hits pattern of overpricing in health care supplies

There is a pattern of overpricing in the purchase of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic supplies, opposition Senator Francis ‘’Kiko’’ N. Pangilinan on Monday said.

‘’Yes, nakikita natin na hindi ito ang unang beses na nagkaroon ng overprice sa mga binibili ng gobyerno sa ilalim ng COVID,’’ Pangilinan said in a TV interview this morning. (Yes, we have seen that this is not the first time that overpricing in the purchase of COVID-19 related supplies had taken place.)

Pangilinan’s interview took place before Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, in today’s plenary session, said in a privilege speech that government officials who appeared in the Senate Committee of the Whole (COW) public hearing last Friday were not forthright in the planned roll out of COVID-19 vaccines.

Pangilinan cited last year’s discovery by Lacson of alleged overpricing of testing kits to a Department of Health (DOH) purchase price of P9,000 while the Philippine Red Cross’ (PRC’s) purchase price is P4,000. This was during an earlier Senate COW hearing.

The result of that discovery pressed the price of testing kits to go down, he explained.

Like his fellow senators, Pangilinan also questioned the high price of Sinovac vaccine of P3,629 for two doses based on a DOH figure supplied during a Senate 2021 budget hearing last December.

The price tag was given although Sinovac still had no emergency use authorization (EUA) from the government.

Indonesia is reportedly buying Sinovac vaccine at P650 per dose.

Senators are wary about the low efficacy rate of Sinovac vaccines which is 50.41 percent based on reports from Brazil. The efficacy rate of some competitors of Sinovac is higher from more than 80 to 90 percent.