President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. wants the government to boost domestic medication manufacture and stockpile medicine in case of an emergency.
"Let’s maximize the local production. The initial reason why this came up is the supply problems that we encountered during the lockdowns so we need to be prepared. We should be able to produce the local supply of essential medicines," he said during a meeting with the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) healthcare sector group in Malacanang Palace on Wednesday, March 29.
He ordered the Department of Health (DOH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to work hand in hand with the private sector to discover medications that may be manufactured locally and to optimize the use of the capacity of local pharmaceutical manufacturers, particularly in the production of essential medicines for impoverished Filipino patients such as anti-tuberculosis treatments.
During the meeting, it was also decided that the PSAC will study the viability of creating remote diagnostics centers and evaluate new medical technology and its associated expenses.
PSAC will also strengthen FDA through the digitalization of its information systems (IS) including the upgrade of electronic certificate of the product registration information system—with an overall digitalization rate of 72.5% targetted August this year.
