(Following is the transcript of the segment "Analysis by Winnie Monsod" which aired on News on Q on August 14, 2009. Prof. Winnie Monsod is the resident analyst of News on Q which airs weeknights at 9:30 p.m. on Q Channel 11.)


There is no question that cheaper and quality medicines for the Filipino people are a consummation devoutly to be wished, and the enactment into law of RA 9502 in June 2008 is certainly an accomplishment of this administration.

Chapter 3 of RA 9502 deals with the price regulation of drugs and medicines, giving power to the President to impose, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health, these maximum retail prices.

This was supposed to be a last resort, to be taken only if the pharmaceutical companies refuse to voluntarily reduce the prices of very important drugs and medicines, which studies had shown to be highly overpriced in the Philippines, compared with the prices of the same drugs in various countries in Asia, including Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia and India.

But, the drug companies made no move to reduce their prices, and only did so when it was clear that the DOH meant business.

But their response came so late, and they dragged their feet so much that President Arroyo went ahead and signed the executive order imposing maximum retail prices on 5 medicines

Maybe, my threshold of satisfaction is too high.

But, I don't see why cutting the prices of certain medicines by fifty percent should be considered such an achievement by our health officials.

Why? Well, some of those medicines cost in the Philippines ten times what they cost elsewhere.

So, why should I be happy if they now cost 5 times what they cost elsewhere?

It is therefore sincerely to be hoped that these drug companies are forced to bring their prices down some more – not by law or fiat – but by making the local market, dominated by multinational companies, a contestable one; which means, by the exercise of parallel importations, where the cheaper, same quality goods are imported from abroad.

The government should show the way by making these parallel importations, so that the companies are forced to bring down their prices some more than that, or lose their share of the market.

And while we are on the subject, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines has threatened to declare a "hospital holiday," where they will only accept emergency cases, unless the government gives them more time to sell their inventory of medicines, bought at the old prices, before having to cut their prices.

They claim that they are facing financial losses that will force them to retrench their employees or even close down.

That is nothing more than blackmail.

This seems to be a favorite ploy of the PHAP to get what they want, because they threatened the same thing about two years ago. It is irresponsible and unwarranted.

Irresponsible, because it jeopardizes the health and well-being of citizens, and it is unwarranted because:

(a) these hospitals knew since June of 2008, when the bill was passed into law, that maximum retail prices could be imposed and they should have been planning ahead on their inventories since then

(b) they were in on the consultations that were being conducted by the DOH and never said a word, and

(c) it is impossible that they have such large inventories of costly medicines

Why? No hospital worth its salt would tie its money down on large medicine inventories, particularly when, the turnaround time between order and delivery is only 24 hours!

In any case, I challenge the members of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines to open their books for audit by the COA or certified public accountants from the NGO community, who can then attest to the accuracy or inaccuracy of their claims.