UK to invest 2 M pounds in Phl scientific research

MANILA, Philippines - The British government is investing some two million pounds for scientific researches in the Philippines in the next three years to cope with “new healthcare challenges.”

In a press briefing this week, United Kingdom Trade and Investment Director Lain Mansfield said the researches would be a collaboration of British and Filipino scientists “in order to address new health challenges which are of mutual interests for both countries.” 

“We are also working with the government, in particular with the Department of Health (DOH), in order to support some of the programs that they have to increase the standards of hospital provisions to help ensure that the public (is served better),” he noted.

He maintained that a scientific research will have to meet certain criteria. “The best project, the best program with the best potential for great health benefits will be funded.”

According to him, the British government is “committed to work closely with the Philippine government and the Philippine private sector to improve health care provision and quality across the country.”

“One thing that we would say as a government is that health care is not an issue to any one country alone.  It is a challenge to all countries, whether there is a new challenge like MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) or the recent Ebola… I think we contributed $500 million to fight Ebola outbreaks,” he added.

Mansfield has underscored the need for all countries, the public and private sectors to come together to deal with new challenges in the health sector.

In the Philippines, he said, one of the challenges is the country’s “rapidly growing population that continues to increase the burden on the health system.”  

He said the Philippines is also “very geographically dispersed” so ensuring that hospitals around the country have the “same high quality level of health care provision is very challenging.”

Mansfield, however, observed that the Philippine National Drug Formulary (PNDF) is outdated. The British government is now in talks with the DOH to help the country update the list.

PNDF is a list of essential medicines deemed important to address the primary health care needs of Filipinos. It is the basis of all government procurement of medicines and reimbursement of drugs of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

Mansfield added that licensing and regulation of medicine is an area “which is absolutely critical for any country to get right.” 

For his part, DOH Undersecretary Kenneth Hartigan-Go said the agency is now in the process of updating the formulary, which was created in 1987.  The list was last updated in 2008.