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The lead executor of the national action plan on the new coronavirus disease (NAP COVID-19) said Wednesday night that the government intended to buy 11 million, not 3 million, of complete personal protective equipment (PPE) with the P20 billion reserved. for purchase.
In a statement, NAP COVID-19 chief executor Galvez Jr. took a strong exception to a report by Rappler and an editorial by the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) referring to a purchase of P20 billion for 3 million EPP.
“They not only misquoted me, but these articles also cast a cloud of doubt not only about the integrity of the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 but about the government in general,” Galvez said in his statement (See Letters to the Editor on page A13).
“I would like to put on record that the P20 billion I mentioned during the May 9 interview in the city of Davao is not for the purchase of the 3 million PPE games alone, but for 11 million complete games,” he said. , adding that the 3 million complete sets of PPE are “part of the first tranche of the 11 million PPE worth P20 billion to be purchased by the Philippine government.”
He said the 3 million PPE kits “are in stock for the months of June through August of this year,” in line with the government’s effort to stock up on essential medical supplies and equipment through 2021.
Galvez also noted that the PPE kits being purchased by the government are “level 4 quality … that are designed to provide full protection to our medical leaders.”
Transcription
A review of the transcript of the May 9 interview shows that Galvez made his first mention of 3 million PPE sets (“Mayroon po tayong bibilhin na mga plus or minus 3 million PPE pa, doon po sa China”) in Answer to a question about whether an upcoming batch of PPE was approaching.
After a question to clarify if the PPE sets were obtained and were not donated by China, Galvez cited an acquisition that “I think … is P1.8 billion”, adding that “another acquisition” that the Secretary is preparing of Health Francisco Duque III would be worth more than P20 billion. (“Mayroon tayong year, this is year, this is acquired, year ago, I believe it is $ 1.8 billion. Then prepare for Secretary Secretary Duke’s presentation of another acquisition in over $ 20 billion EPP.”)
The next question, regarding the purchase schedule, prompted another mention of Gálvez’s 3 million PPE sets (“However, the ongoing acquisition of an additional 3 million PPE”).
It was not mentioned in the transcript of an 11 million EPP purchase. It was not made clear that the planned purchase of 3 million EPP was part of a larger lot of 11 million. A report from Senator Joel Villanueva’s office, released on May 13 (the same day as the Inquirer editorial) and titled “Comments and Recommendations on the Seventh (May 11) Report on the Implementation of the Bayanihan Law (RA 11469 ) “, indicated that the senator’s office was also unaware of a major purchase of EPP. The report used the same figures previously reported and independently came up with almost the same calculation in Inquirer’s editorial.
EPP Cost Report
Specifically, on page 7 of the report, in “Cost of PPE; Accounting for PPE Acquired and Donated “, the second paragraph of number 9 stated that:” We would also like to reiterate our request for a full accounting of such PPE acquired. the [NTF] COVID-19 Chief Implementing Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. previously explained that most of that million PPE kits would be shipped to hospitals April 6-24, 2020, though Bayanihan’s previous reports do not include updates in this regard ”.
This was followed by a bullet with the text: “Comparing the two separate acquisitions, it can be seen that the PPE purchased from China in April only cost P1,800 per set on average, while the lot purchased this month (as supply for June As of August) cost more than triple, or P6,666 per game. “
The bullet was accompanied by a table presenting the total cost of “1 million EPP (for April)” at P1.8 billion, and “3 million sets of EPP (from June to August)” at P20 billion.
The Inquirer editorial estimate, based on 3 million PPE for P20 billion, is P6,667 per set of PPE.
In an update Thursday night, Galvez said the government had distributed more than 1 million $ 1.8 billion worth of PPE kits to 699 hospitals across the country.
He said the PPE sets were purchased through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management, and the 3 million sets of PPE are expected to arrive in batches starting May 18. They were purchased from P1,800 to P2,000 per set.
“If we were to buy PPE kits for P400 to P600, we would be giving our healthcare workers the wrong sense of protection. If they were those, our health workers would die because they would have an incorrect sense of protection because these (cheaper PPE) do not meet medical standards. We cannot sacrifice the lives of our health workers ”, emphasized Gálvez.
He noted that there had been a “huge reduction” in the number of deaths among health workers since the government distributed the high-quality PPE kits.
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