LINGAYEN–With the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Cheaper Medicines Law still due to take effect on November 21, Governor Amado Espino Jr. already directed all doctors working in government-owned hospitals in the province to start prescribing only generic names of drugs.

Starting tomorrow, they will have to follow the “generics only rule,” Espino told the head doctors of hospitals in a meeting two weeks ahead of the IRR implementation.

Under the IRR of the Cheaper Medicines Law, all full-time, part-time and consulting doctors in public hospitals have to write down only the generic name of the drug they are prescribing.

The law, also known as Republic Act 9502, authored principally by Senators Mar Roxas and Pia Cayetano in the senate, is intended to bring down the prices of medicines in the country.

Espino also asked the media to help in the campaign to ensure full compliance of doctors by reporting violators.

At the same time, the governor asked the doctors to report to him the problems in the hospital-based pharmacies that may hinder the provision of cheaper medicines, especially to the poor.

“I want them to talk to their pharmacists for compliance with this law,” he said.

He added that doctors must ensure that the pharmacies are well-stocked so that patients need not go to commercial drugstores.

Espino has said that health care is among the top priorities of his administration and he has initiated the upgrade of all 14 hospitals under the provincial government. #

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