Keep medicine receipts vs defiant drugstores - DOH
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III asked consumers on Monday to keep receipts of their medicine purchases to help identify drugstores that are not complying with the Cheaper Medicines Act. "Donât forget to keep your receipts. It will be the best proof that a drugstore or pharmacy is defying the order. That will be a key piece of evidence in any investigation," Duque said in an interview on dzBB radio. He urged the public to report erring drug retailers to the DOH by calling 807-0751 or 8078275. DOH officials caught some drugstores defying a presidential order to slash retail prices of essential medicines based on a receipt shown by one customer, he said. Duque on Saturday said two major drugstores have been caught so far since the government started enforcing Executive Order (EO) No. 821. Signed last month by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, EO 821 mandates a 50-percent cut on the prices of five medicines considered essential and currently sold at exorbitant prices in the Philippines. [See 2 firms face probe for failing to cut drug prices] These are the anti-hypertensive Amlodipine, the anti-cholesterol Atorvastatin; the anti-infection Azithromycin, and the anti-cancer drugs Cytarabine and Doxorubicin. While there were problems encountered in the enforcement of the Cheaper Medicines Act, these were expected, Duque said. âSo far so good pero siyempre âdi perfect. Kahit anong sa unang gawa may kaunting gusot (So far so good, but of course it was not perfect. But then again, we had expected to run into some problems)," he said.