Buy cheaper medicine from India, Arroyo urges drug firms

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday urged drug firms to import medicine from India and sell these at prices lower than those sold by multinational companies in the Philippines. “When I go to India on October 4, I‘m inviting members of the drugstore industry who want to buy half-priced medicine from India," Mrs Arroyo said in her speech before a pulong bayan at the Zamboanga del Norte Medical Center. Mrs Arroyo will go to New Delhi and Mumbai on October 4-5 for a state visit to return the visit of former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who came to the Philippines on Feb. 3-6, 2006. The President said that in her visit to India, she would bring along several Filipino business leaders from the Philippine pharmaceutical industry to expand the importation of cheaper medicines from the South Asian country. The President pointed out that the half-priced medicine program is not the monopoly of the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) and that anybody who wants to buy half-priced medicine from India can do so even without going through the state-run firm. She explained that the PITC os “just the pioneer" in buying cheaper medicine but local government units and private drugstores could do it too to make medicine more affordable in the entire country. She also promised that her government will continue to push for passage of a bill that would institutionalize the cheaper medicine program. The President is expected have bilateral talks with Indian leaders, led by its new President, Pratibha Patil, and meet with several members of the Indian business community, led by those from the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. Mrs Arroyo also told reporters in Dipolog City that she will make a pitch for air rights for Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Air Philippines in a bid to increase the number of tourists coming from India. The President said she will seek bilateral cooperation with India on the development of the jatropha as an alternative fuel source. India is the pioneer in developing jatropha as substitute fuel. Before going to India, Arroyo will also go the US to attend the UN General Assembly and speak before a women’s forum and to China to attend the Special Olympics World Summer Games and to visit Shanghai and Shandong. -GMANews.TV