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By Cris G. Odronia, Reporter
Reducing the prices of medicine
is not enough to improve health care in the Philippines, an
executive director of the Center for Legislative Development
International said Tuesday.
According to Prof. Emmanuel Leyco,
“a pricing policy response is not going to work” because even if
medicine prices are reduced, only those who can afford to buy them
will benefit.
In his presentation at the
Kapihan para sa Kalusugan forum held at the Asian Institute of
Management, Leyco said some of the factors that impede access to
health care services are availability, affordability and
accessibility.
Citing the recent Family Income
and Expenditures Survey, Leyco said about 70 percent of the
population do not have access to health care services not only
because of the prevailing market prices of medical care but also
because of their low income.
He pointed out that among the top
10 expenditures of the Filipinos, medical care has ranked No. 8. The
No. 1 expenditure is food, followed by house rent and transportation
and communication.
He said government’s attempt to
keep a tighter control on health care facilities and price levels of
medicines in the Philippines through the passage of the
Anti-Hospital Detention Law and the Cheaper Medicines Law, will have
little impact on the medical needs of the poor.
“It [Cheaper Medicines Law] was
a very sincere effort. [However], what was not considered was the
people purchasing power profile and spending pattern,” he said.
“These are the two major aspects [that need to be considered].”
Leyco argued that even if the
government would reduce the prices of the medicines, the poor ones,
especially those who have no savings, “particularly the bottom 50
percent of the population, would not be able to benefit from it.”
For the poor ones to have access
to health care, the government has to give it for free, Leyco said.
But if they are given medicines, the poor have other things to worry
about such as access to hospital facilities.
“We need to have a focused
targeted health policy,” Leyco said, adding the government has to
focus on rural areas.
Citing the figures from the
National Statistics Office and the Department of Health, he said
there is an uneven distribution of healthcare resources and
physicians and nurses in the country. Majority of the nurses and
doctors are operating in the National Capital Region. 
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