Wheelchairs found in PhilPost await delivery: DOH

In a press statement, the DOH said the wheelchairs at the PhilPost warehouse were the remaining units that would be delivered to health facilities in the provinces of Catanduanes and Masbate in the Bicol region. (Photo by U.S. Embassy, Jakarta/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)

MANILA — The Department of Health (DOH) has clarified a news report on “dozens of wheelchairs (that) were found dumped” by the department at the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost) office in Quezon City.

In a press statement, the DOH said the wheelchairs at the PhilPost warehouse were the remaining units that would be delivered to health facilities in the provinces of Catanduanes and Masbate in the Bicol region.

“The DOH is due to deliver these wheelchairs — 88 units for Virac, Catanduanes and 312 units for Masbate — on Oct. 25,” the DOH said.

“Their Provincial Health Offices cited their limited storage space and requested for temporary holding at the Post office, thus delaying the delivery of the courier service providers hired by the DOH,” it added.

In an online report released last Sunday, a “concerned citizen” saw the wheelchairs “moldering in the PhilPost” office along NIA Road.

The concerned citizen said that according to a guard, the wheelchairs were brought to PhilPost by the DOH as it lacked space in its office.

In its statement, the department cited a PhilPost report that the supposedly damaged wheelchairs were not actually damaged but were removed from their boxes “when they were soaked due to leakage from their ceiling”.

“All of them were already transferred to another location for cleaning before delivery,” the DOH said, assuring that it was doing its best to ensure that “no single centavo of the people’s taxes is wasted”. (PNA)