Monday, January 23, 2006
Euro Union to help lower prices of medicines in RP
By Antonio M. Ajero
GLOBAL initiatives have been taken to lower prices of essential medicines to help countries like the Philippines.
This was learned from European Commission ambassadors who visited Mindanao last week to check on the progress of various projects funded by European countries.
Ambassador Jan de Kok, head of delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, said "European Commission and the European Union have already taken global steps to work with pharmaceutical companies, especially those in Europe to make essential drugs to poorer countries in the world more accessible.
"This means that the major pharmaceutical companies are asked to try to lower the price of many of these drugs, especially drugs that are used in fighting HIV-Aids, tuberculosis and others," De Kok said.
He added that many pharmaceutical companies are very supportive of these moves.
"We know that in the Philippines, there is always talk about the price of medicine," said De Kok.
"It is not just a matter of the pharmaceutical companies' gate price being big or too high. It is also a matter of what happens in between the time that pharmaceutical companies make medicines available or sell the medicine, and when they reach the people that need them," he added.
De Kok said, "One of the things that we'll be doing in our health project is to try to rationalize distribution system and to internally insure that the purchase of essential drugs is going to be more efficient and more effective and that in itself will also help to lower the price for the end users and for the people that need them".
But De Kok said they're not targeting or singling out the Philippines alone in the initiative.
"This is global (initiative) that we have with the WHO (World Health Organization), other partners and pharmaceutical companies around the world who are asked to take a look at their profit margins and see what can be done about them," he said.
In addition, British Ambassador Peter Beckingham also bared that a major British pharmaceutical company-Glaxos Smith Kline is launching a special program in Mindanao to help infants in Mindanao suffering goiter form free.
Australian Ambassador Herbert Jager also announced that the Europen Union has pledged $100 million supply of medication for bird flu to countries in need.
Earlier, De Kok bared that about PhP 2.08 billion Health Sector Policy Support Programme has been approved by the European Commission in support of the implementation of the Philippine Government's health sector reform program.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (January 23, 2006 issue)
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