300 drugstores accredited for Gamot program

OVER 300 drugstores and pharmacies are now part of the Guaranteed and Accessible Medications for Outpatient Treatment (Gamot) program of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

This was according to PhilHealth President and Chief Executive Officer (PCEO) Edwin Mercado, who said they are continuously exerting efforts to expand the program.

"Sa kabuuan, we have 304 pharmacies, of which 56 are nasa Metro Manila," said Mercado in a roundtable discussion on Wednesday.

He said they are looking forward to accrediting more pharmacies, especially those with several branches.

"May mga pharmacy chains na nag wait and see muna. Ngayong may experience na sila sa NCR, nakikipag-usap na din sila para maaccredit na namin ang mga branches nila sa probinsya," said Mercado.

(There were pharmacy chains that initially took a wait-and-see approach. Now that they’ve gained experience in NCR, they’re starting to coordinate with us so we can accredit their branches in the provinces.)

In August, PhilHealth launched the Gamot program with 75 types of free medicine made available to PhilHealth members, with an annual benefit limit of P20,000 per beneficiary.

PhilHealth said interested pharmacies may submit accreditation requirements to the PhilHealth Regional Office (PRO) within their area.

The requirements include Checklist of Documentary Requirements for Gamot Facility (Annex A); Provider Data Record for Health Facility/Pharmacy; Notarized Performance Commitment for Health Facility; Updated copy of FDA License to Operate (LTO) as a retailer; Certification of Availability of Gamot (Annex B); Certification of Compliance to IT Requirements; and Copy of the latest General Information Sheet (GIS).

More meds covered

Aside from expanding coverage of the program, Mercado said they are also looking to cover more medicines.

He said they are not yet contented with the 75 medicines covered by the Gamot program.

"Itong 75 ay only a fraction of what we consider as essential drugs," said Mercado.

(These 75 are only a fraction of what we consider essential drugs.)

"Definitely, madadagdagan ito dahil malayo pa tayo dun sa kabuuan ng essential medicines," he added.

(Definitely, this will increase because we are still far from covering all essential medicines.)

He said they want to cover as many as possible from the list of essential medicines of the Department of Health (DOH).

"We don't have an exact number of target. But we're constantly studying this," said Mercado.

The DOH list of essential medicines contains 627 medicines with 351 in the core list and 276 in the complementary list. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)