With the latest Philippine National Health Accounts showing that 41 percent of all healthcare spending in the Philippines goes to pharmaceutical products or medicines, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go on Thursday said he would suggest to President Rodrigo Duterte to include all essential medicines in the proposed list of expanded Maximum Drug Retail Prices.
The move, Go said, would ensure that Filipinos would gain easier access to quality and cheaper medicines.
Go also guaranteed that the immediate release of the MDRP list to the public would complement the Universal Health Care Law.
“Mr. President, as Chairman of the Committee on Health and Demography, and an advocate of universal healthcare access for all Filipinos, I hereby manifest my support for the initiative to expand the Maximum Drug Retail Price or MDRP to ensure that our countrymen and women gain easier access to cheaper quality medicines,” said Go.
“As I have said before: Healthcare is a right, not a commodity,” he added.
Both Go and Senator Pia Hontiveros said that the matter must be addressed through the provisions of the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008, which grants the President of the Philippines the power to impose maximum retail prices over medicines sold in the country, upon the recommendation of the secretary of the Department of Health.
“According to data from the 2018 Medical Trends Around the World report of Mercer Marsh, essential medicines in the Philippines continue to be exorbitantly priced relative to international counterparts. Generic drug prices are also approximately up to four times higher than international reference prices,” Go said.
He also emphasized that the government must serve the interest of the people over the interest of businesses.
“It is our moral duty as public servants and lawmakers to ensure that the health and medical needs of our compatriots are prioritized over the corporate interests of a few, especially in this day and age when the country’s medical inflation rate continues to rise rapidly, even outpacing our national inflation rate.”
In September, the DOH released a proposed list that covers 120 drugs addressing leading diseases and catastrophic conditions in the Philippines, such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung diseases, neonatal diseases, and major cancers.
The list also covers high cost treatments for chronic renal disease, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Hontiveros said that most Filipinos – even those coming from middle class and upper middle class households – simply cannot afford much-needed medicines, even with assistance programs like PhilHealth.
In many cases, she said that people are forced to sell property, or just refuse treatments for their ailments so that they would not burden their families.
Hontiveros added that the exorbitant prices of medicines could undermine the implementation of the UHC Law, since a large share of funds will be spent on buying expensive medicines.
“Nearly half or 41% of all health care spending in the Philippines has been going to pharmaceutical products. In comparison, the share of medicines in total health expenditures of other countries is as low as 19.7% in high income countries, to 30.4% in low income countries,” she said.
She called on Malacañang to immediately exercise price control and regulatory powers granted under the Cheaper Medicines Law (RA 9502), which she co-authored in 2008 as Akbayan’s partylist representative.
As this developed, the Department of Health (DOH), in partnership with the Medicines Transparency Alliance (META) Philippines has convened Mindanao-based patient groups for the 10th Policy Dialogue on Universal Healthcare (UHC) and Access to Medicines in Zamboanga City.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that it was through the active participation and engagement of all relevant sectors, particularly patient groups, that the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the National Integrated Cancer Control Act and the UHC Act were signed.
“Gathering all important players and stakeholders with the goal of improving the lives of Filipinos through Universal Health Care is a milestone in itself, the DOH is counting on every group’s support to make UHC a success,” Duque said.
Duque said the DOH aims to strengthen its partnerships with patient organizations to support existing DOH programs as well as its ongoing reforms to improve access to healthcare and essential medicines.
“The success of UHC lies in the inclusivity of all our efforts, after all health is everybody’s business. Let us work together, to make UHC work,” he said.
The forum tackled DOH health policy issues to get input and invite patients’ perspective for more sustainable outcomes, and provided information on current flagship programs.
It covered a range of topics on drug pricing, rational use of medicines, and access to medicines such as FOURmula 1+ Botika ng Bayan, Maximum Drug Retail Price, Health Technology Assessment – Philippine National Formulary System.
It also covered DOH health programs such as the Antimicrobial Resistance Control Program, National Integrated Cancer Control Act, Mental Health Act, Rare Disease Act, and existing DOH platforms for patient engagement.
