STATE-RUN Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has allotted
P26 billion worth of benefit packages for poor Filipino families, a
government health official yesterday said.
"PhilHealth has allotted around P26 billion worth of medicines for
outpatient benefit packages, [which are] equivalent to P500 per family
per year for 5.2 million families under the National Household Targeting
System for Poverty Reductions," the Health department's National Center
for Pharmaceutical Access and Management (NCPAM) program director Ma.
Virginia G. Ala said in an interview after a Senate oversight hearing on
cheaper medicines.
She said these would be used to ensure universal access to quality
essential medicines as envisioned by Republic Act (RA) 8293 or the
Cheaper Medicines Act.
This is on top of the NCPAM's funding sourced from the Department of
Health's annual budget to make affordable quality drugs available, Ms.
Ala added.
At the hearing, she reported to the Senate committee on trade and
commerce that only 201 out of 900 medicines were covered by the Cheaper
Medicines Act.
Senator Manuel B. Villar, trade and commerce chairman, expressed concern
since multinational drug companies lobbied to lessen the coverage of the
law when the Implementing Rules and Regulations were created.
"I was wondering why only 201 out of 900 medicines are covered by the
Implementing Rules and Regulations. It is lacking, we need to expand
it," Mr. Villar said in an interview after the hearing.
He added he will look at how to give more teeth to the law and its
implementation. -- Antonio Siegfrid O. Alegado
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