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The House of Representatives may soften its stand on
the controversial cheaper medicines bill.
In an interview, Speaker Jose de
Venecia urged the proponents of the Cheaper Medicines Act to
consider the request of doctors to remove the provision on the
“prescription of generic names of drugs.” De Venecia already
said he talked to the principal author of the bill, Iloilo Rep.
Ferjenel Biron, to open a dialogue with doctors.
“I talked to him [Biron] over
the phone to consider or include the request of the doctors in
Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and in Metro Manila,”de Venecia said.
But de Venecia said that doctors
should also appeal to senators since the bill will be acted upon by
the both chambers of Congress.
Members of the Philippine Medical
Association earlier threatened to stage a “hospital holiday” to
express their objection to a provision of the bill, which mandates
doctors to prescribe only generic names of drugs.
The doctors claimed that they
also have to prescribe branded drugs during certain occasions.
On the other hand, Biron said
that among the salient features of the bill, the provisions on the
prescription of generic drugs could be easily reconciled or
resolved.
--Maricel V. Cruz
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