Senator JV Ejercito on Thursday filed a resolution seeking an inquiry into the alleged collusion between doctors and pharmaceutical companies in prescribing medicines.
Ejercito, who co-chairs the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, earlier scored the alleged modus operandi of pharmaceutical firms of giving physicians gifts so they would prescribe medicines that their patients may not even need.
The senator said the practice could be a “violation of the ethical standards of medical practices.”
In filing Senate Resolution 1011, Ejercito said that the Generics Act of 1988, or the Cheaper Medicines Act, aims to ensure the protection of the public through the promotion of accessible and affordable quality drugs.
He cited an article written by Dr. Sylvia Claudio, former University of the Philippines medicine professor, which revealed the shady dealings between doctors and big pharma.
“According to Dr. Claudio, pharmaceutical companies shower doctors with gifts from as small as ballpoint pens and T-shirts to blowouts at expensive restaurants, concert sponsorships, and trips abroad to market their products,” Ejercito wrote in his resolution.
The senator noted that Republic Act 11223, or the Universal Healthcare Act, seeks to protect patients against financial risks and reduce the cost of their out-of-pocket health expenses.
Ejercito said he was approached by some pharmaceutical companies and whistleblowers who revealed that some doctors were allegedly in cahoots with Bell-Kenz Pharma Inc. in prescribing medicines.
“I heard this practice concerning Bell-Kenz Pharma Inc., wherein the shareholders are doctors and they import quality drugs for hypertension, diabetes, and others,” he said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
“The only problem is that there seems to be a conflict of interest and a breach of ethical standards because the complaint of the whistleblowers was that it involved doctors marketing or prescribing the drugs or medicines imported by their own company,” he said.
Ejercito said the modus operandi can be considered a “networking or pyramiding” scheme.
“We have to investigate why this has been going on. The company has existed for a long time. It was boosted during the pandemic,” he added.
He lamented that if doctors were “indeed prescribing” medicines or supplements that patients don’t really need, “then it adds yout-of-pocket expenses.”
“I think they are more active in the provinces than in Metro Manila. So we really have to look into this. Again, we do not want unnecessary extra expenses for ordinary Filipinos, especially those in the provinces,” Ejercito said.
