New York reported hundreds of millions of dollars of medical equipment at the start of the COVVI-19 pandemic which has not been used and which is now seated in storage facilities without obtaining recommended maintenance while costing taxpayers storage, According to a report published on Friday by the office of the state controller Tom Dinapoli.
Auditors discovered that the State had paid $ 453 million to buy nearly 250,000 sustainable medical equipment in 2020, including fans, X -ray machines, CPAP / BIPAP machines, oxygen tanks, pulse oxymeters, oxygen concentrators and infusion pumps. Total state inventory, including pre-countryic available equipment, only 324 items were distributed during the public health emergency, and only three items from nearly 250,000 items purchased during COVVI-19 have been used.
A committee was created to make recommendations when the pandemic ended which equipment should be kept in an emergency stock. He recommended that the State Health Department to keep 51,140 articles and that 4,468 items should receive the planned preventive maintenance, leaving nearly 200,000 items without a use plan.
According to the controller’s report, the limited measures were taken by the DOH to reduce the stock.
Auditors have found that the DOH began to identify the means to reduce its inventory as the cowled cases decreased, but did not finalize any processes or created written procedures. Auditors have determined that limited measures have been taken to reduce the stock. Doh has conducted investigations into the medical community, the facilities interested in tens of thousands of equipment, but very few items have been sent.
The listeners also found that a lack of controls during the pandemic contributed to the DOH not being able to take into account all the elements purchased, with credit card transactions a problem, according to the report.
“During the pandemic, New York State quickly bought medical equipment to deal with the public health crisis,” Dinapoli said in a statement. “Now hundreds of thousands of unused devices are inactive. I urge the Ministry of Health to develop and execute a strategic plan for the maintenance and use of these purchases of medical and future equipment, so New York is well prepared for the next public health urgency. ”
Following the audit, Dinapoli recommended that the DOH maintain the basic internal controls during emergency scenarios to ensure the management of state assets, document and preserve the process and key factors used to make important decisions, develop and implement a strategic plan for preventive maintenance so that it is ready to use during public health emergencies and develop and work a strategic strategic plan for public health on a public scale to use the elements.