Cebu City Hall defends purchase of medicines
CEBU City officials defended the purchase of oxytocin ampules at different prices.
In yesterday’s press briefing at City Hall, Dr. Gloria Duterte, Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) chief of hospital for medical services, said there are different brands of drugs and their prices depend on their efficacy.
“With the higher priced oxytocin, we only need one or two ampules to promote contraction. But with the cheaper brand, we need 10 ampules,” she told reporters.
Records from the city’s purchase requests for the drug showed that a purchase order dated December 16 last year showed that the city bought 3,000 ampules of oxytocin at P280 per piece.
The transaction was questioned by the Commission on Audit (COA) in its annual audit report (AAR).
COA said there is a cheaper brand called Oxtimon and a purchase order dated December 22 last year showed that its price is only P150 per ampule.
Rey Cris Panugaling, CCMC chief of hospital for administration, said the COA may have committed an error.
“There’s no Oxtimon brand in the market at P150. It’s priced at P300. They might be referring to another brand Oxitone which is priced at P150,” Panugaling said while showing an actual copy of PO No. 1644 which indicated the brand Oxitone.
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