A LETTER-complaint has exposed what is allegedly another anomaly at the Eversley Childs Sanitarium, a government-run hospital whose management the Commission on Audit (COA) recently cited for millions in missing funds.

Based on the complaint, some employees periodically take government-purchased food supplies from the hospital kitchen and then hide the loss by indicating on records that the items were already given as meals to patients.

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But Dr. Joanri Riveral, in letter to Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol last June 29, said they found that the patients who were supposedly given the items were either dead or no longer in admission.

Riveral asked the anti-graft office to investigate four people: Cheryl Charisse Igot, said to be the dietitian who prepares the list of patients to be provided meals; Merriam

Abonales and Rowena Kangleon, the nurses who reportedly monitor the patients; and Supervising Administrative Officer Felix Eltanal, who approves the list.

“I seriously think there is collusion if not connivance within the Dietary Department to deprive the government of its funds,” Riveral said.

If the anti-graft office confirms Riveral’s observation, the anomaly has been going on since early last year or even before that.

“There were at least 10 discharged or dead patients who were released by the hospital as early as January 2008. Yet, on record, they were still fed until August 2008,” Riveral’s letter said.

“Each day, P70 is provided for each patient for meals. There is a clear anomaly considering that discharged and dead patients are still given food. Per records that I got, more or less P66,710 was either lost or misappropriated,” it added.

The hospital, located in Jagobiao, Mandaue City, was in the news recently over missing funds.

The COA noted more than P58 million in funds missing from the hospital’s pharmacy last February and recommended the relief and investigation of the assigned collector.

According to state auditors, a review of the hospital’s cash register receipts showed that the money was “refunded” to patients, though the disbursements were not supported by documents like memos authorizing the return and the reason for them.

There is also no proof that the refunds were received by the patients.

Hospital chief Dr. Primo Joel Alves reportedly requested the COA audit on the heels of persistent reports of illegal transactions within the pharmacy. The matter has also been referred to the anti-graft office for fact-finding.

The pharmacy unit is under the administrative department being handled by Eltanal.

But Eltanal, in previous news reports, blamed Alves and his “mismanagement.” He and 60 other employees held a protest last June 24 by reporting to work wearing black armbands.