Not enough money to import drugs? - Gotcha

Once more, for the record: Transport and motorist groups are against the Road Users Tax that will increase vehicle registration fees by 50 to 800 percent. They ask: what roads are government officials talking about? There are not enough of them; thus, the daily traffic jams. Officials must pave new roads from existing taxes -- on individual and corporate incomes, VAT, flood tax, amusement tax, real estate tax, travel tax, etc. Why, the only new road built in recent years, the Skyway on South Luzon Expressway, charges toll. So what's the point of a Road Users tax?

To repair existing roads, officials will say. Oh, but those roads won't need constant repair if only they were built right. But look at the asphalt overlays. Any decent civil engineer will say those must be at least six inches thick. But they're only three inches -- because governors, mayors, senators and congressmen who sponsored the works also took kickbacks. Instead of them being punished for it, they're punishing transporters and motorists with a new tax.

Government has been pushing generic drugs for ten years -- to no avail. Glittering promos of branded drugs by multinational firms attract more attention from doctors and patients alike. Proliferation of fake drugs has not helped any in dispelling doubts that unbranded preparations are as potent as those with familiar labels.

With medicine prices rising sky high, government sees a new tack. Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez and Trade Secretary Mar Roxas are planning to import RP's 10 most-prescribed drugs from India, where they are up to 18 times cheaper. But doctors, local drug-makers and sellers are protesting the plan, for various reasons.

Pharmacologist Romeo Quijano doesn't see government making a dent in drug pricing by importing. As spokesman of the Health Alliance for Democracy's task force for safe, affordable and accessible medicines, Quijano says government does not even have enough money to import.

Romualdez and Roxas have raised P500 million for the purchase. Quijano scoffs at the amount: "It's only one percent of RP's annual drug consumption." With government importing "only a miniscule portion of essential drugs needed by majority of the people," Quijano foresees the poor "scrambling for little crumbs that government will offer. Inevitably, most of them will end up with nothing."

Advocates of Indian imports see the monopolies in drug-making and retailing running for cover when government ships berth in ports laden with cheap drugs. But detractors say the stocks will rot at the piers, just like books left unbound in education department warehouses and bullets in PNP stockyards. "Government has no effective drug distribution machinery to speak of," Quijano laments. With public health service on the decline due to cost-cutting and devolution, Quijano says the drugs will not reach the intended poor beneficiaries.

Quijano also sees no guarantee that doctors will prescribe India's cheaper drugs. He says they're so steeped in "colonial mentality" that multinationals' products are the best, so they'll still doubt the reliability and quality of Indian imports.

Ed Feist of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines also decries the bias against generics and products that don't bear the familiar names of multinationals. Like Quijano, Feist is against government imports, but for reasons of business. PHAP consists of firms that supply, market, distribute and retail drugs and medical services.

These include pharmaceutical research outfits and generic-makers.

Feist acknowledges that fake drugs contribute to the bias against generics and less-known labels. But he said government has to wipe out such counterfeits, along with the misconception that generics are of substandard quality.

Feist says PHAP has not given up on generics. But for doctors and patients to have faith in their potency, he says, government should impose international standards on generic-makers.

That's easier said than done in a country where familiar foreign brands dictate taste -- and taste spells faith in whether one will get well with the medicine a patient takes.

INTERACTION. Ched Arzadon, digitelone.com: Because of distance, we in Luzon take Mindanao for granted (Gotcha, 24 Apr. 2000). Cut the hoopla on whether to impose a news blackout on the Abu Sayyaf. It would be good for us to know what's going on. When a finger hurts, the whole body feels the pain.

More so beheadings, Ched.

Jose Marino Labrador, edsamail.com: Money changes hands often, but few handle P1000-bills (Gotcha, 19 Apr. 2000). In Australia, they hail the use of DNA printing to catch rapists. Here, Cong. Magtubo flaunts bribe money without subjecting it to scientific examination.

Nilo Orocio, Florida: I'm lucky to have retired from Napocor after 21 years of honest work -- before the crocs took over. That was a time when one got pride and honor to be associated with Napocor.

Tony Carreon, Los Angeles, Ca.: Bribe is S-O-P in this administration. We saw it in every department and in Malacañang. Now we see it in Congress.

Lito Matias, shabakah.com: Why can't they put up a one-stop shop to process or authenticate public documents, instead of making thousands of people go to and from Census Office, Malacanang, DFA? Or, why not let the agencies move the documents, instead of civilians? That will somehow reduce traffic.

"Efficient government" is an oxymoron, Lito.

Thank you, Tomas Gomez, Oscar Santos, George Rubio, Juliette Alabanza, Jun Mabini, Lyn Ching, Bing Ramos, Wilbert Marasigan.

YOUR BODY. High-fiber diets do not prevent polyps that can lead to colon cancer, according to two large studies published in the latest issue of New England Journal of Medicine.

OUR WORLD. A surprising report from cnn.com/nature: Images from inside a 66-million-year-old dinosaur show it had the heart of a warm-blooded animal. Meaning, dinosaurs were not slow and plodding but quick and hungry.

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