Reason why prices of drugs unaffordable

IN my last two columns, I cited numerous complaints on the abuse of Republic Act 9257, otherwise known as the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003, as compiled by SCAAG (Senior Citizens Advisory & Advocacy Group) of which I am chairman.

For those who came late, SCAAG is purely a voluntary nonprofit, nongovernment organization composed of dedicated individuals committed to see to it that the mandated privileges and benefits granted to qualified senior citizens 60 years and above under the law are complied with.

RA 9257 is by no means a perfect law. There are loopholes in its implementation and there are provisions that must be revised or done away with. But, more importantly, until the law is amended or revised, the law must be complied with and implemented.

Thus, it’s important that the people concerned must be educated and informed of their rights, and the establishments mandated to grant 20 percent discount to senior citizens must be aware of their responsibilities. As it is said, dura lex, sed lex. (The law is hard, but it’s the law).

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In my meeting with the Association of Drugstores of the Philippines, I was told that one of the reasons for noncompliance with the law granting 20 percent discount on purchase of drugs and medicine by senior citizens is that the margin of profit of small drugstores, unlike Mercury Drug which buys by the bulk directly from pharmaceutical firms, is only from 3 to 5 percent. They say that they are at the mercy of distributors and agents of pharmaceutical firms.

Another complaint of small drugstores is that the BIR refunds them only 32 percent of their given discounts in spite of the law which mandates the tax refund of the discounts.

On the complaint of small drugstores that their margin of profit is only from 3 to 5 percent, I had asked them to validate it. But, up to now, they have not. I admit, however, that they are at the mercy of drug distributors and agents of multinational pharmaceutical firms, a drug cartel responsible for the escalating cost of drugs and medicine. And the high cost of drugs and medicine has been responsible for the proliferation of fake drugs, mostly from China since there’s market for them for the masses who can no longer afford drugs and medicine.

The United Nations has expressed fears that fake drugs consisting of at least 10 percent of drugs in the Philippine market are not only useless, but extremely dangerous.

Along this line, it would do well for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Congress to get together and find ways and means to address this problem.

The way I see it is to break the monopoly of the cartel of multinational pharmaceutical firms preying like vultures of death on the poor Filipinos. Just how it will be done is the President’s and Congress’ problem.

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Now, insofar as the small drugstores that are at the mercy of multinational pharmaceutical firms which outsource their imported drugs and medicine, I would suggest that the latter share along with drugstores the 20 percent discounts given to senior citizens.

As for the tax refund, a recent Court of Appeals decision stated that drugstores should be given full refund by the BIR for the 20 percent discounts given to senior citizens. It’s only proper that mandated establishments providing discounts to senior citizens should get full tax refund.

The cartel of multinational pharmaceutical firms, to mind, is as important a problem as graft and corruption that must be addressed immediately since it’s the poor that’s being taken advantage of. To them, high-priced drugs and medicine is a matter of life or death. It’s also a matter of national interest.

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The multinational cartel of drug companies has been with us for decades now. I recall that in the ’60s, there was an attempt to break this cartel but to no avail. Then came the Generic Act but, again, it proved be a futile attempt to bring down drug and medicine cartel. And the reason for this is that the lobby of multinational pharmaceutical firms in the Philippines is well-funded. Now, you see why there’s no attempt by Congress to break this cartel.

The government is trying to address the problem by importing cheap medicine from India and Europe through the Philippine International Trading Corp., but the problem remains because of a strong lobby against it.

Doctors are given free trips to convention centers of the world, and given free samples, which some of them peddle to their patients. Congressmen and senators are likewise given freebies by pharmaceutical firms when abroad, which should explain why there’s no attempt by Congress to address the problem of unaffordable drugs and medicine. As a result of this lobby, doctors prescribe branded drugs and medicine, instead of generic drugs and medicine, rendering the Generic Act a dead law.

But, what concerns me more is the unabated entry of smuggled and fake drugs and medicine from India , China and Europe . It’s a problem affecting public health. Just what the department of health is doing, I don’t know since it is acting like the three monkeys — see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing.