Inquirer – September 25, 2007

THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH HAS opened its 385th Borika ng Barangay in Metro Manila, bringing the number of its low-priced pharmacies to 10,000 nation¬wide.

The 10,000th BnB was launched in Barangay Pinagkaisahan in Cubao, Que¬zon City, yesterday in line with the com¬memoration of the 29th year of the Generics Law.

This would give more indigent Fi¬lipinos increased access to "low-priced yet- effective medicine," said Health Sec¬retary Francisco Duque III in a state¬ment.

The DOH is set to open similar pharma¬cies in Metro Manila soon, he added.

The BnB project was launched in 2003 "to ensure accessibility to low-priced gene¬ric over-the-counter drugs and eight pres¬cription drugs."

The project, according to Duque, is part of the DOH's "Half-Priced Medicines Program" which aims to bring down the cost of medicine to half their 2001 prices. The BnB serves as the distribution net¬work of the DOH in coordination with the Philippine International Trading Cor¬poration (PITC).

In putting up these pharmacies, the DOH provides local governments with seed capital of P25,000 worth of drugs and medicines through the PITC. The medicines for the BnB project are mostly imported from India and Pakistan but it also carries local branded generic drugs.

The DOH trains operators of the BnB. The DOH also submits the imported drugs for quality assurance tests to the Bureau of Food and Drugs.

Medicines commonly sold in a BnB in¬clude amoxicillin, cotrimoxazole, paraceta¬mol and multivitamins for children.

Amoxicillin, for example, is sold at P2.02 per capsule in BnBs compared to P5.10 in other drugstores. Paracetamol, on the other hand, is sold at P0.46 per tablet compared to P1.15 in other drug¬stores.

The PITC earlier said it was eyeing 11,000 BnBs by 2007. Beverly T. Natividad