The Filipino Patient's Rights

All of us at one time in our lives will experience some sort of illness and become patients. But, does every patient know their rights?  Beginning in 2010 hospitals in the country were required by the Department of Health (DoH) and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) to post these rights prominently around their premises, particularly in the emergency room, clinics and wards.  However, there is no uniform standard on patient rights and each hospital can come out with it's own or adopt the existing standard set by the DoH.

Rational Drug Use

The Philippines, compared to it's neighbor countries has the highest drug prices in Asia next to Japan. Medicines are priced way too high beyond the reach of ordinary Filipinos so much so that many patients die, not because medicines are unavailable but primarily patients cannot afford to buy them.  This high cost is due to an unregulated free-market forces that wreak havoc on the country’s healthcare system.  Indeed, compared to the demand side, the supply side — the pharmaceutical industry — is so dominant that it can dictate whatever price it wants. Corollary to this, patients are often prescribed medically inappropriate, ineffective and economically inefficient drugs. One major challenge of the country's health system is to ensure that all citizens of the country have access to essential, life-saving medicine and rational drug use.