While it may take years or even decades before we can offer nurses and doctors monthly wages that are at least reasonable enough to keep them here, the issue of unaffordable medicines is being tackled now. The government is aggressively pushing and supporting the Botika ng Bayan project, anchored on the parallel importation of off-patent drugs and drug ingredients, as the immediate response to this problem.
The country may be losing its doctors and nurses even as hundreds of hospitals are shutting down due to a lack of competent personnel, but with the Botika ng Bayan and its cheaper but equally potent and effective medicines, contrary to the propaganda of giant drug firms, the Filipino people have a better chance of living a healthier life.
Originally, the program made available off-patent imported medicines from India in 76 Department of Health-maintained hospitals nationwide. The program, which brought down the price of a life-saving antibiotic or anti-hypertensive drug by as much as 84 percent, instantly caught the attention and drew appreciation from the masses.
I was told that during then Sec. Roxas’ provincial sorties prior to his seeking a Senate seat, it was the cheap medicines program that drew the most interest, particularly among local government executives. Today, the crusade to make more cheap medicines available to more people nationwide evolved into the Botika ng Bayan (or Botika ng Barangay if located in and supported by the barangay and its officials) program, and is being spearheaded by Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) chief Roberto "Obet" Pagdanganan.
The issue of drug potency, however, has earlier been addressed when the Bureau of Food and Drug certified that medicines under the parallel importation program are as effective as its more expensive counterparts.
Pagdanganan, drawing additional support from legislators, including Sen. Roxas himself, is intensifying the bid to make more LGUs, NGOs, parishes and legislators aware of the Botika ng Bayan program and how they can take part in the program and leave a lasting legacy of health to the people.
It is imperative that concerned government officials support the Botika ng Bayan program which is making sure that medicines are justly priced and are made available to people who need them most, instead of bowing to the multinational drug cartels’ lobby.
Aside from having the most expensive medicines in South East Asia, it is said that the Philippines has the second most expensive medicines in the whole of Asia, next only to Japan.
Worse, the so-called multinational drug cartel not only sells us medicines that are as much as 84 percent costlier, but has imposed continuing price increases over the past few years.
Two to three years back, the anti-bacterial Augmentin 625mg (Co-amoxiclav) had a market price of P86. Now, it retails at P91 per tablet in big drug stores. Under the DTI’s Presyong Tama Gamot Pampamilya program, the same was sold in DOH-operated hospitals for only P63.50. In the case of Adalat Retard 20mg (Nifedipine), a widely prescribed anti-hypertensive, its market price a few years back was P36.25 per tablet. Today, Adalat Retard retails at P41.25, but is only selling for P21 through the Botika ng Bayan. Your favorite anti-inflammatory painkiller Ponstan (500mg) was sold at P19.70 a tablet before, but now sells for P22.90 in the market compared to only P14.75 if purchased in any Botika ng Bayan outlets.
In a country where more than half of the population lives in poverty, those hefty price differences could spell the difference between life and death.
The stunning price disparity of medicines sold under the Botika ng Bayan and those manufactured and sold by multinational pharmaceutical firms through large drug store chains continue to haunt the consuming public. Questions are being raised. How can these companies get away with it? Is Botika ng Bayan the only approach the government can take to bring down the cost of medicines? How did India and other countries that achieved relatively much lower costs of medicine manage to tame the multinational pharmaceutical firms’ hunger for bigger profits?
More on this issue of unaffordable medicines strangling the lives of sick Filipinos in succeeding columns.
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