Hospitals and pharmacies won't go bankrupt with cheaper meds law - CHO
By Venus May H. Sarmiento
Dagupan City (17 August) -- Hospitals, pharmacies and drugstores won't go bankrupt because of the implementation of the cheaper medicines law, a top health official in the city believes.
City health officer Leonard Carbonell said all aspects of the law were carefully studied when it was still a bill and the government made sure it will be beneficial to both the poor and the companies.
"Hindi ako naniniwalang malulugi sila. Kahit na 50 % ang ibababa ng presyo, meron pa rin silang ganansiya dito," Carbonell explained.
Executive Order No. 821 which took effect on August 15, set the maximum retail price for five essential medicines. Drug companies also voluntarily agreed to a 50 percent price cut on about 70 other medicines.
Medicines now under price control include telmisartan and irbesartan, which are hypertensive drugs; the antithrombotic drug clopidogrel; the antidiabetic drug gliclazide; the antibiotic piperacillin and tazobactam, ciprofloxacin, metronidazole and co-amoxiclave; anti-cancer drugs such as bleomycin, carboplatin, cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, etoposide, mercaptopurine, methotrexate sodium and mesna.
Carbonell said the cheaper medicines law was implemented by the government to address the leading causes of morbidity such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and pneumonia and to bring affordable medicines to the Filipinos.
Meanwhile, health secretary Francisco Duque III said health centers nationwide would be mobilized to accept complaints against hospitals and pharmacies that continue to sell essential medicines at exorbitant prices. (PIA-Pangasinan) [top]
