The Department of Health (DOH) is calling on all hospitals, healthcare facilities, as well as drugstores and pharmacies to help promote the use of generic medicines to their patients and customers, respectively.Speaking during the Generics Awareness Month celebration, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said it is imperative for all healthcare workers to help encourage the use of generic medicines.
Our responsibility, as healthcare providers, is not only to dispense medications but to educate and advocate for the benefits of generics, said Herbosa.
We must encourage our patients to seek for generics medicines and to trust their efficacy, he added.
In doing so, the health chief said it could result in the bolstering of the local production of generic medicines.
It can strengthen the local capacity to produce generic medicines in realization of the Medicines Access Framework, he noted.
Herbosa added that promoting the use of generic medicines will help the public avoid having higher expenditures.
This shall help ensure sustainable access to essential medicines and to reduce out-of-pocket spending, said Herbosa.
Generic drugs are medicines that are not covered by patent protection and are labeled solely by their international non-proprietary or generic