Health for the wealthy
Filipinos can live with the high prices of food supplements with no approved therapeutic benefits, which are popular among health buffs. People can also live with the high prices of drugs for non-life threatening afflictions, such as Viagra and Cialis. But why do Filipinos have to contend with the high prices of drugs for chronic illnesses and even ordinary infections?The House of Representatives committee on trade and industry, which is deliberating on a bill that will bring down the prices of medicine, reported that drug prices in this country are 22 times higher than those in India and five times higher than those in Pakistan. A 500 mg tablet of the popular painkiller Ponstan, for example, is retailed at P21.82 in the Philippines but only at P2.61 in India. An 80 mg tablet of the common antibiotic Bactrim costs only 69 centavos in India but P15.55 in the Philippines.
People can survive without ordinary painkillers. But what about a diabetic whose life could be shortened without maintenance drugs? A tablet of Diamicron, a drug for diabetics, is priced at P4.71 in India and P11.46 in the Philippines, the House panel learned.
There has to be more to the yawning price discrepancies than the fact that India has a flourishing local pharmaceutical industry – something that the Philippines has neglected to develop. The Philippines in fact imports from India several generic drugs sold in government health centers. But medicine prices are also lower in neighboring Asian countries compared to those in the Philippines. Congressmen pin the blame on what they describe as monopolistic pricing schemes of those in the pharmaceutical value chain.
House members are trying to address the problem by passing a new law that aims to bring down medicine prices – something that the 20-year-old Philippine National Drug Policy and the Generics Act have failed to do. Millions of Filipinos already lack the means to undergo complex medical procedures such as heart bypass surgery. Millions cannot afford even the expensive tests needed to determine cardiac problems. They should at least be able to afford maintenance drugs for common afflictions such as hypertension and asthma. It is often said that health is wealth. The government should avoid turning the country into a place where good health is only for the wealthy.
