THE Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD)
yesterday accused President Arroyo of politicizing the
Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of
2008.
Geneve Rivera, HEAD deputy secretary general,
said it is "intriguing" on why Arroyo is bent on rushing the
passage of the bill in spite of unanswered questions.
HEAD has called on Arroyo to exercise
political will in bringing down medicine prices which is said is
more important than having a law that will not be implemented.
Earlier this week, Congress ratified the
cheaper medicines bill, which aims to bring down prices of
medicine in the country, which are among the highest in the
world.
The proposed law, however, remains pending in
the Office of the President (OP) despite earlier pronouncements
by Malacañang that the law will be a gift to the public on the
occasion of Labor Day last Thursday.
HEAD also questioned the provision of the
bill wherein the price control board was placed under the Office
of the President.
"Ang ang dapat ay under iyon ng Department of
Trade and Industry with the supervision of the Department of
Health," Rivera said.
One of the bill’s provisions states that the
President holds the power to put price ceilings on drugs.
Speaker Prospero Nograles said he will be
keeping an eye in how the proposed law will be implemented.
Nograles said the House decided to accede to
the Senate version of the cheaper medicines measure and agree to
remove the "generics only" and the "regulatory board" provisions
that were present in the House version to avoid a protracted
stalemate.
Nograles said the House decision to give way to the full
version of the Senate was due to the assurance of Senators Mar
Roxas and Pia Cayetano that the cheaper medicines measure will
still bring down the cost of medicines even with the removal of
provisions requiring physicians to prescribe only generic
medicines and the establishment of a drug price regulatory
board. – Gerard Naval
