MANILA: As the country celebrates Generics Awareness Month, Agri Party-list Rep. Wilbert Lee filed a resolution asking the appropriate House committee to look into the implementation of Republic Act (RA) No. 9502, or the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008, and RA 6675, or the Generics Act of 1988.
Lee said this is to help Filipinos make informed medical purchases and improve access to affordable and effective medications for all.
In filing House Resolution No. 1986, he cited a 2014 study of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) which showed that out of 1,160 respondents of a survey, only 7 percent know the correct definition of a generic drug, while 48 percent believed generics were less effective, despite evidence proving otherwise.
‘It is worrisome that this perception on quality and effective generic medicines still prevails among our countrymen,’ Lee said in a Tuesday news release.
He urged agencies mandated by law, such as the Department of Health, Department of Education, Philippine Inf
ormation Agency, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, to launch a continuous information campaign and education drive for the public and medical professionals regarding the equal efficacy of generic medicines and branded medicines, including information on usage, effectiveness, and contraindications.
‘The government should be more aggressive in promoting the correct information, and implementation of the laws to ease the burdens of our countrymen, especially on their health,’ he said.
Lee welcomed the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s Memorandum Circular No. 93-2024, exempting 15 medicines for cancer, high cholesterol, hypertension, and mental illness from value-added tax.
‘Many essential medicines remain costly and inaccessible, and it is incumbent for Congress to conduct a remedial review of the laws and exercise its oversight functions on the proper implementation of the said laws,’ he said.
Source: Philippines News Agency