Romualdez: More than half of spending on health products unnecessary

MANILA, Philippines - More than half of the country’s annual expenditures for health products ranging from P100 billion to P150 billion are unnecessary because they hardly provide any therapeutic effect, former health secretary Alberto Romualdez said yesterday.

Citing the National Health Account (NHA), Romualdez noted that only “less than half (of these amounts) are spent on medicines that are truly effective.”  

The NHA is an annual collection of information by national census and statistics groups measuring the expenditures on health every year.

“So more than half (of the expenditures) go to products whose benefits you can get from other ways which are not so expensive. For example, the vitamin C preparations. By and large, people who have access to good food do not need any vitamin supplement at all,” he told a press briefing on the third Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA).

Despite this, he said there has been a “great deal going on in the country” concerning vitamins.

“And it is so because people are convinced that it protects them against all kinds of problems: cough cold, cancer and bad marriage,” Romualdez added.

MeTA Philippines, which Romualdez chairs, brings together various international and local stakeholders to look for ways to improve information flows and increase transparency and accountability on the selection, regulation, procurement, sale, distribution and use of medicines in developing countries.

Romualdez has expressed concern over the “nutraceutical phenomenon” in the country.

He said pharmaceutical firms should be truthful in their advertisements, as majority of the Filipinos find it so hard to raise money for their health needs.

A combination of the words nutrition and pharmaceutical, nutraceuticals pertain to nutritional products that claim to provide medicinal or therapeutic benefits. These include dietary supplements and medical food.

“There is a need to assess how this phenomenon of nutraceuticals impacts on our heath. We don’t know the impact on shaping people’s mind... It’s not just the amount of money but the way they are advertised,” Romualdez said.

Food and Drugs Administation (FDA) director Nazarita Tacandong agreed that there is a need to restrict the promotional materials of all health products.

She revealed that efforts are underway to translate into Filipino the phrase “No approved therapeutic claim” that manufacturers of supplements are required to print on the packages of their products.

“It has to be in Filipino so that more people will understand. There are two choices and there will be a public hearing on this to determine which is the best translation,” she said

The two translations are: “Ang produktong ito ay hindi nakagagamot” and “Ang produktong ito ay hindi aprobadong nakagagamot.”

Tacandong said the FDA, the Advertising Board, the Philippine College of Physicians and other stakeholders are set to form a task force that would look into advertising materials before these are aired on television and radio, printed in newspapers and put up for outdoor display.

The task force will be tasked to uphold the principle of “truth in advertising” to protect consumers against misleading advertisements.