VA loses more than $1M worth of medical equipment

COLUMBUS (AP) — Inventory records show Veterans Affairs medical facilities across Ohio have lost track of more than $1.1 million worth of medical equipment over a three-year period.

WBNS-TV reports VA medical centers in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton and Chillicothe all lost equipment between 2014 and 2017.

Items that went missing range from iPads to a $28,000 bedside monitor and a $12,000 stretcher.

Some facilities continued to lose items even after the VA in Ohio spent close to $24 million on tracking technology. The contractor for the technology has not responded to requests for comment.

Cincinnati VA spokesman Greg Goins says Ohio facilities have issued a stay of future spending on the tracking technology.

When asked if taxpayer dollars are being wasted, he said “we aren’t going to allow that to happen.”