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By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Thursday, February 23, 2017
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MANILA – With the Cheaper Medicines Law not being implemented well, an Iloilo City representative on Monday has called for the creation of price regulatory board on medicines.
Iloilo 4th District representative Ferjenel Biron said his House Bill No. 3252 aims for the creation of the board composed of seven members from the Department of Health (DOH) that will look if the Cheaper Medicines Law is being implemented rightfully.
“We have discovered that the DOH has miserably failed in implementing the law, the failure is really to include a good number of pharmaceutical formulations to be covered by the mandatory regulation,” said Biron.
“The creation of the price regulatory board on medicines is the most effective way to quicken up the inclusion of more medicines in the mandatory drug retail price,” added Biron, who heads the House Committee on Trade and Industry.
Biron is positive that the price regulatory board will be able to efficiently monitor, review and push for the inclusion of more drugs and medicines for common ailments and their threatening medical condition into the list subject to price regulation.
Under the Republic Act 9502, otherwise known as the Universal and Quality Medicines Act of 2008, the president has the power to regulate the prices of drugs and medicines upon the recommendation of the DOH chief.
Recently, Biron headed a comprehensive review on the implementation of the law nine years since it was passed.
“As principal author of RA 9502, I believe that our duty does not end after the bill has been signed into law. It is a matter of personal commitment on my part to see to it that it will actually redound to the benefit of the Filipino people,” Biron said.
“But this power has apparently not been used by either past presidents or health secretaries, which is one of the many reasons why to date we have not updated the list of drugs and medicines for price regulation,” he added./PN
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