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Roxas bill strengthens BFAD
Regarding the column of Dan Mariano (Big Deal,
“When cheapest is not always best,” Feb. 27), the bill
introduced by Senator Manuel (Mar) Roxas II, the Affordable Quality
Medical Bill, addresses his concern and the concern of the
Chancellor’s Advisory Council of the University of the Philippines
to strengthen the Bureau of Food and Drugs to ensure quality of
drugs.
SB 1658 recommends strengthening the Bureau of
Food and Drug to serve as a counterfoil to attempts to bring in fake
or substandard medicines by allowing the bureau to retain its
operating income from fees and other charges so it could upgrade its
facilities and beef up its human resources.
The Senate version of the cheaper medicine bill
is also silent on the proposal requiring doctors to prescribe only
generic drugs because the senators felt that this would have a big
impact on the professional practice of doctors, dentists and
pharmacists, as well as on public health.
Cheryl Santos
Quezon City
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