High drug prices are killing us - DEMAND AND SUPPLY by Boo Chanco

Unreasonably high prescription drug prices are killing us. If there is one program championed by former Trade and Industry Secretary Mar Roxas that government should continue, it is the parallel importation of these drugs to force down the prices set by the multinationals.

Things are such that if you are unfortunate enough to have some serious chronic disease, the cost of medicines will kill your will to live even before the grim reaper come calling. I should know this because of first hand experience. Just before one of my sisters died last month, her medicines alone cost no less than P10,000 a day.

We normally blame the high costs of medical care on hospitals but it turns out, the culprit is really the high cost of drugs. The New York Times reports that researchers found out "prescription drugs accounted for 44 percent of the increase in health costs last year… The report in Health Affairs said that about one-third of the increase in drug spending last year was attributable to higher prices."

The New York Times also reported that "while prescription drugs accounted for 44 percent of the increase in health costs last year, the report said, doctors' services accounted for 32 percent, and outpatient hospital care accounted for 21 percent, while inpatient hospital care was responsible for only three percent." I don’t know what the numbers look like here, but I can guess it would be just about the same, with drug costs accounting for an even higher share due to the peso devaluation.

The P5-million initial importation authorized by Mar Roxas will not even scratch the surface. There is danger that because Mar is gone, the ever vigilant local pharmaceutical association will take the opportunity to kill the parallel importation effort outright. DTI’s officer-in-charge, Mr. Thomas Aquino does not have a solid mandate to undertake controversial endeavors.

Hopefully, Health Secretary Quasi Romualdez will pick up the effort. Just to show how limited that initial importation is, only a handful of government hospitals will be used to distribute the drugs. If we are to use the market to drive some sense of community and compassion as well as reason into those drug multinationals, parallel importation must be undertaken in a more massive scale.

This administration owes it to us, the people, to assure our right to life and good health. That is possible only if critical prescription drugs are available at reasonable prices.

Hospice

Speaking of health care and my late sister, I think it is strange that we do not have hospice care available for the terminally ill in this country. I imagine there is an increasing number of Filipinos falling victims to cancer and other debilitating diseases that need this kind of care.

The problem with last stage cancer patients is that they can no longer be cared for in the home. Pain management is something that must be constantly supervised by trained medical professionals. The only alternative is hospital admission. But because things are open ended with no one knowing how much more time the patient may have, a long hospital confinement is also tough on both patient and care givers.

In the United States, they have some kind of half way houses called a hospice where terminally ill patients can be given the kind of care they need to make things comfortable in the patient’s last days. The atmosphere in a hospice can also be made more cheerful than in a hospital. It is also a place where the spiritual and psychological needs of the patient can be given a lot more attention. Relatives of patients will also be given access to support groups to help them cope with the crisis arising from the situation.

A friend and neighbor of mine, Dr. Sylvia Jacinto Jamora was trying to put up one such hospice some time ago, but I guess the resources are just not there. But there must be a market for this kind of service here. If any of you guys have any ideas, let me know. I am sure Dr. Jamora can use any help anyone can give.

Thanks

Finally, I would just like to express my thanks (and that of the family), to all those who condoled with us when my sister, Atty. Maria Ana Chanco-Sison passed away two weeks ago. Despite the absence of an obituary (she instructed us not to put up one), so many of our friends came at the wake, the storm and the flood, notwithstanding.

And because she died a day before the long Nov. 1 holidays, my special thanks too to San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, who opened the municipio that rainy Friday afternoon to facilitate the official documentation needed so we can lay her to rest Saturday. She wanted a short wake without any fuss but the long holidays and the typhoon threatened to make it longer than a week. The timely assistance of Mayor Jinggoy with the paperwork enabled us to carry out another of her last wishes.

Losing a sibling, specially one who can still do so much, is tough. I guess I am still in a state of denial. It is at difficult times like this when her perspective on events is most useful. It was good to know there were those who were ready to comfort us when we needed it most. Maraming Salamat Po.

Death Wish

The prospect of death isn’t always grim, at least that’s what it seems from this joke sent in by Dr. Ernie E.

There was a very wealthy 70-year-old gentleman who had just married a beautiful 25-year-old young lady. One of his long time friends said to him, "How did you get that gorgeous woman to marry a 70-year-old guy like you?"

The guy leaned over and said to his friend, "It was easy. I simply told her that I was 90."

TXT msg

Finally, here is a txt msg I received.

Americans r complaining, dey stil hav no president. Filipinos r complaining we stil hav a president.

(Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@bayantel.com.ph)