Two types of medicines worth about 21 million lei, donated to the Cancer Institute, were not used on time and had to be destroyed.
This is one of the findings of the Accounts Chamber, which presented on Wednesday the results of an audit of the management of state property and financial resources of the Oncological Institute for 9 months in 2022-2023. The auditors noted numerous shortcomings and inconsistencies that affect the activities of the institution and the quality of its services. Thus, it was found that some types of medical services were not provided in the contractual volume, and on certain days the number of hospitalized patients exceeded the actual number of available beds. In some hospital departments, the date of hospitalization was untimely and reached 25-60 days from the date of admission. Due to the optimization of beds in treatment wards, more than 300 people did not receive palliative care, and almost 340 people did not receive medical services in the established volume, although funding was allocated for this. Inconsistencies have been identified in the supply of drugs for the treatment of people with cancer. Some of the purchased medical products worth 11.5 million lei are not used due to the lack of reagents, components or necessary spare parts, 137 products have not undergone periodic verification, and some of the products cannot be checked due to the lack of accredited inspection bodies. Accordingly, the harmlessness and reliability of the data obtained, which this equipment measures, can be questioned. “The Oncology Institute did not have the necessary drugs to treat people with cancer, since some economic operators did not supply drugs in accordance with procurement agreements. Also, the hospital departments did not receive medicines worth 0.6 million lei in a timely manner or did not provide medicines in full. At the same time, the medical institution had access to programs for assistance with oncological drugs; medicines worth 71.5 million lei were not transferred to state quality control. The process of receiving and accepting donations is not regulated, which is why drugs with a short period of use - 2-4 months from the date of receipt - may remain unused. For example, during the reporting period, the Cancer Institute received 2 drugs worth 20.7 million lei. But they were not used during their validity period, and as a result they had to be destroyed, with the corresponding costs for harmless destruction,” the Accounts Chamber auditors noted. Also, the use of donations in the form of medicines is not reflected in the institute’s accounting. This led to a distortion of income by 106 million lei. The financial statements of the institution recorded income of 546 million lei, expenses of 644 million lei, and losses of 98 million lei. However, the audit showed that the reporting was incorrect, and in fact the medical institution ended this period with a profit of at least 8 million lei. Violations were also identified during the leasing of premises of the Cancer Institute, during the delimitation of state property, during procurement, etc. // 07.02.2024 — InfoMarket
