More Botika ng Barangay up in Antique soon
SAN JOSE, ANTIQUE – The Botika ng Barangay (BnB) that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo launched in 2003 to cut medicine prices in half for the Philippine poorest of the poor has paid off.
Funded with close to half a billion pesos over the past five years, medicine prices in BnBs have not only been cut in half. They have nosedived by as much as 62 percent compared to branded medicine prices for the 25 million Filipinos now patronizing the grassroots level botikas, said a report from PIA.
The mandate of the Botika ng Barangay is to carry the medicine most commonly purchased by the poor, stressed the President who revealed that her administration has poured close to P500 million to ensure affordable medicine supply for the BnBs.
In the province, the Department of Health (DOH) has been fast tracking BNb implementation. Advocacy, networking and conduct of trainings-seminars have been intensified. Recent launching activities and orientation for stakeholders were conducted in the municipality of Laua-an.
In Hamtic 37 BnBs await the approval of the Bureau of Food and Drugs. The DOH has a target of 200 BnBs outlet provincewide of which so far around 30% has been functional, DOH information revealed.
Gaining headway in the implementation of BnB is the Botica Health Plus under the auspices of the Antique Federation of Non-government Organizations (AFON) which serves 367,696 clients or 69 percent of the Antique's 472,088 population as of 2000 census annual geometric growth rate of 1.84. Of the province' 532,893 project population 367,696 are covered by the Botika health Plus program disclosed Renante Pido, Franchise Manager, AFON Health Plus Center.
The Philippine government through the DOH has extended P.950 million as seed capital for 38 Botika health Plus Outlets. The other four BnBs await release of P25,000.00 each outlet from DOH as their revolving fund.
The BnB Health Plus Project is being supported by the German Federal Republic through GTZ or the German Tachnical Cooperation and another foreign organization "KFW" or the German Bank for Reconstruction, Pido explained.
The facility has enormous impact on social services delivery aspects, particularly on household needs for quality and affordable generic drugs. BnB has remarkably reduced the families' budgetary allocation on medicines. Being barangay based botika, it has likewise addressed the problems on transportation cost.
The BnB has generated income and livelihood opportunities for the 42 Barangay Health Workers who were tapped as operators of Botika Health Plus in their respective communities, Pido added. (EA Abasquez/PIA)