By CONG B. CORRALES
Associate Editor
THE co-chair of the City Price Coordinating Council has sent the Department of Health (DOH) a complaint regarding what he called “unconscionable” prices of medicines being sold in hospitals here.
Lawyer Jose Edgardo Uy wrote to DOH regional director Adriano Suba-an to bring to his attention the practice of pharmacies inside private hospitals in the city. The DOH-10 stamped the letter received on Jan. 13.
“Briefly, the price of medicines inside at least one (although it is common knowledge that private hospitals charge exorbitant prices of medicines) private hospitals is about 30% to 40% higher than those sold in drugstores outside hospitals,” Uy’s letter reads in part.
Uy added he could not understand the price differences as he cited the same brand of medicines sold at cheaper prices outside the hospitals.
“I believe this is not the first time that this matter came to your attention or that of the DOH,” his letter reads.
Uy, who also sits as chairman of the city’s Regulatory Compliance Board, requested a fact-finding be launched as soon as possible.
“(A fact-finding), if I may insist, should be initiated immediately to curb what appears to be an unconscionable, excessive, and unreasonable pricing of medicines in private hospital drugstores,” Uy’s letter reads.
He pointed out that the health department should regulate the prices of medicines in the same way the Department of Trade and Industry regulates prices of basic commodities
“If candles are included in the regulated items, life-saving medicines should and must be regulated by the DOH,” Uy stated.
Incidentally, Uy’s wife Juliet died of complications while confined in a hospital last month. Uy had posted rants of the inefficiency of medical staff and prices of medicines in drugstores in private hospitals on his Facebook account.
“I trust you will give this matter (your) most serious attention,” Uy concluded his letter which he signed as a “pissed-off concerned citizen.”
