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Palace to hospitals: Don’t hike charges over medicine price cut


Malacañang on Wednesday reminded hospitals against increasing their fees to recover their supposed “losses" stemming from the 50-percent cut in the prices of essential medicines. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita also directed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to prevent the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAP) from doing so. “We will give them [DOH officials] the instruction to remind the hospitals association not to take such drastic steps," Ermita said in an ambush interview at the Edsa Shangrila Hotel in Mandaluyong City. Weeks before the implementation on August 15 of the executive order cutting into half the prices of 21 essential medicines, the PHAP complained that the measure might expose hospitals to losses that could lead to retrenchments. After trading threats with the DOH, the PHAP threatened to launch a hospital holiday if the price cut would be fully enforced. After a planned hospital holiday fizzled out, the PHAP warned of health care slowdown as losses could result in shortened work hours of doctors and hospital staff and delayed salaries. In a report on GMANews.TV on August 12, PHAP lawyer Bu Castro said that “medicine price slash could lead to revenue losses for the hospitals and eventually to delay in the release of salaries or even salary reduction." Also, he hinted that “some doctors, nurses and medical workers might find reason not to report for work if a salary cut is enforced." Counter-productive Ermita urged hospital administrators to reconsider their position, noting that “every time they announce their measure, it is counter-productive as far as the interest of the majority of our people is concerned." “Instead of thinking about how it will affect their benefits through the gains that they're getting from their operations, ang pag-isipan naman nila ang kalagayan ng mga nakararami - ang mga pasyente, na karamihan naman ay hindi nakaririwasa sa buhay," he said. Ermita reminded the hospital administrators that they are in the business of health care, and not into pharmaceuticals. - GMANews.TV

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