Pharmaceutical prices are much too high

The top concern of any administration should be the state of health of its citizens. This means the implementation of our laws on sanitation and hygiene. There was a time when sanitary inspectors were a common sight. They would go around the neighborhood and inform individual home owners that they had areas in their gardens that were breeding places for mosquitos, inspect restaurants and give them a sanitation rating and made sure that ambulant vendors also complied with the rules of good sanitation. Today, sanitary inspectors seem to be figures that existed only in the past.

Next to the general breakdown of sanitation and hygiene, the next big health problem is the very high cost of medicine. We not only spend more for medicine, but the cost of medicine here is much higher than in other countries. Studies clearly show that in our health delivery system, the bulk of expenditure is on pharmaceuticals. Nordic nations spend only seven to nine percent of their health budget on pharmaceuticals; Spain and Italy spend only 19 percent; Switzerland allocates 23 percent. Ironically enough, African countries spend as high as 60 percent of their entire health budget for pharmaceuticals. The Philippines is a close second. We spend 50 percent of our health funds on medicines. In 1999, this amounted to P59 billion! Needless to say, expenditures for medicine are for curing sicknesses that we have failed to defend ourselves from. In short, drugs are being used as ineffectual substitutes for better forms of health promotion and care.

Pharmaceutical exporters also try to hide the bad side effects of their medicine when they sell it to the Third World Countries. A classic example is Flagyl (Metronidazole) which is dispensed mainly for amoebic dysentery. When it is sold in the United States, it is clearly stated that it can cause cancer of the liver. But when sold in the Philippines, the insert says that it could be carcinogenic. Both mean the same thing, but carcinogenic is a medical term that will not be generally understood by the average drug user.

In her State of the Nation Address, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said that she would try to bring down the cost of medicine. We are paying more for our pharmaceuticals than other countries. It will be a great credit to her administration if she can achieve what she has set out to do.