NORTHERN Samar 1st District Rep. Paul Daza has called on the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) to intervene and address the backlog at the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC).
Daza made the call during a recent forum hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham).
The HTAC is responsible for reviewing and approving new medicines and vaccines for government procurement. Currently, the council is facing a backlog of more than 100 pending applications.
Since 2022, only three recommendations have been made, raising concerns that it could take up to a decade to process all the pending applications.
In 2021, ARTA, tasked with reducing bureaucratic inefficiencies, stepped in when the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) experienced delays in handling more than 600 drug applications.
ARTA’s intervention resulted in corrective measures, speeding up the processing of low-risk products.
Five years after the passage of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law, which established the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process in the Philippines, the HTAC is still grappling with significant delays. These delays allegedly hindered the Department of Health from procuring new and advanced medicines, and preventing PhilHealth from covering them for reimbursement.
At least 36 of the medicines pending review by the HTAC have already been included in the World Health Organization’s Essential Medicines List, but remained unavailable for public use in the Philippines. This backlog affects critical treatments for diseases like hypertension, diabetes, cancer and the administration of life- saving vaccines.
Daza suggested that a similar intervention could accelerate HTAC’s evaluations.
“I have a solution for the problem with the pending applications for drugs with the Health Technology Council. Under the anti-red tape law, anything not approved within the mandatory time period is deemed approved. I suggest engaging DOH, experts and industry to create a list of pending applications, and then lobby for their approval,” he said.
He stressed that when ARTA could not intervene, Congress could exercise its oversight powers.
“Streamlining is an executive function. The role of the legislature is primarily law-making. But along with that comes our oversight responsibility. We have the right to oversee almost anything and everything,” Daza added.
According to the congressman, by tapping into the oversight functions of both the executive branch, through ARTA, and the legislature, the review process for essential medicines and health technologies can be significantly accelerated. This collaboration can ensure that timely assessments and regulatory compliance are prioritized, expediting access to life-saving treatments and vaccines for all Filipinos.
