A congressional leader on Monday proposed that indigent patients be allowed to obtain prescription drugs from private pharmacies without charge.
House Deputy Minority Leader Bernadette Herrera prodded the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to sign an agreement with private drug stores nationwide so indigent patients can buy prescription medicines.
The patients would use guarantee letters from the agency under its Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) program, Herrera said.
A guarantee letter is an assurance of payment offered by the Department of Health, DSWD, or other concerned government agencies and institutions including Congress, on behalf of a patient, for the portion of the hospital bill.
The Bagong Henerasyon party-list lawmaker said her proposal draws inspiration from her experience as a young Quezon City councilor in 2004, when she signed a memorandum of agreement with the DSWD and Mercury Drug for indigent patients from her district to avail of prescription drugs, bought using even her own personal money.
Herrera also recalled having Mercury Drug enter an MOA with some members of Congress, which was her brainchild in the mid-2000s, thus helping a significant number of indigent patients in Quezon City.
The solon believes her proposal is doable and that it would help a lot of people, considering that most government hospitals are lacking prescription drugs, especially those that are proven to be highly effective.
During the House deliberation on the proposed 2023 budget of the DOH earlier this month, Herrera disclosed she was working on a bill that would institutionalize the use of guarantee letters by indigent patients in private hospitals during emergency situations.
Former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, upon Herrera’s prodding, issued a memorandum order allowing indigent patients to present guarantee letters to private hospitals that have existing MOAs with DOH and DSWD. Herrera said an administrative order is not enough, that’s why she would push for the passage of a law institutionalizing government medical assistance in private hospitals.
