Cheap drugs sold in Zambales village pharmacies
By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga -- For 50 centavos, the 200 families in a community in Masinloc town, Zambales province, can buy a 500-milligram paracetamol tablet to relieve pain and reduce a fever.
A 500-mg mefenamic acid (pain reliever) capsule, 2-mg loperamide (anti-diarrhea), 300-mg isoniazid tablet (anti-bacterial and anti-tuberculosis) and a 200-mg ibuprofen (used to relieve headache) tablet are within their reach at P1 each.
Thanks to a Botika Natin sa Nayon outlet, generic medicines are available at “miraculously low prices” 24 hours a day in Sitio Mandaloy in Barangay Taltal, Masinloc, said Genalyn Alvarado, a resident there and the team leader of the community pharmacy.
The Mandaloy pharmacy, which was opened on June 4, was the 86th outlet established in Zambales.
Alvarado said medicines in the community pharmacy were cheaper by P1 to P100 and residents save on fare money because they need not go anymore to the town proper as the medicines are sold right in the village.
That, she said, saves them P80 in jeepney and tricycle fares and at least an hour of travel. The village is 22 km from the national highway.
Mandaloy is one of the remotest communities in Masinloc, which hosts the coal-fired thermal plant of the National Power Corp.
Masinloc Vice Mayor Pepito Dimaculangan, a doctor, said the medicines are effective because these come from a distributor licensed by the Department of Health.
Dimaculangan has been encouraging residents to buy from the Botika Natin sa Nayon outlets, which were established in Zambales by the Zambales War against Poverty Foundation, DOH, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Vice Gov. Ramon Lacbain II.
Community pharmacies have also been established in villages in Subic, Castillejos, San Felipe and Sta. Cruz towns and Olongapo City in the last nine months, according to Lacbain.
The foundation provides an initial stock worth P3,000 to each outlet. Funding came from the priority development assistance of Senators Edgardo Angara and Francis Pangilinan.
Each pharmacy is managed by 10 volunteers.
Alvarado said the Mandaloy outlet still manages to get a 20-percent income despite the low prices of medicines.
Lacbain said residents are provided a price list of medicines to guard against overpricing. The price list is also displayed in the store, usually a garage of a volunteer.
The medicines are strictly for family use and not for resale, he said.
Lacbain said the project has targeted to organize 200 Botika Natin sa Nayon outlets in Zambales and Olongapo City.
He appealed to overseas Filipino workers in those areas to support their initiative to bring cheap medicines within the reach of poor residents in the province.
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga -- For 50 centavos, the 200 families in a community in Masinloc town, Zambales province, can buy a 500-milligram paracetamol tablet to relieve pain and reduce a fever.
A 500-mg mefenamic acid (pain reliever) capsule, 2-mg loperamide (anti-diarrhea), 300-mg isoniazid tablet (anti-bacterial and anti-tuberculosis) and a 200-mg ibuprofen (used to relieve headache) tablet are within their reach at P1 each.
Thanks to a Botika Natin sa Nayon outlet, generic medicines are available at “miraculously low prices” 24 hours a day in Sitio Mandaloy in Barangay Taltal, Masinloc, said Genalyn Alvarado, a resident there and the team leader of the community pharmacy.
The Mandaloy pharmacy, which was opened on June 4, was the 86th outlet established in Zambales.
Alvarado said medicines in the community pharmacy were cheaper by P1 to P100 and residents save on fare money because they need not go anymore to the town proper as the medicines are sold right in the village.
That, she said, saves them P80 in jeepney and tricycle fares and at least an hour of travel. The village is 22 km from the national highway.
Mandaloy is one of the remotest communities in Masinloc, which hosts the coal-fired thermal plant of the National Power Corp.
Masinloc Vice Mayor Pepito Dimaculangan, a doctor, said the medicines are effective because these come from a distributor licensed by the Department of Health.
Dimaculangan has been encouraging residents to buy from the Botika Natin sa Nayon outlets, which were established in Zambales by the Zambales War against Poverty Foundation, DOH, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Vice Gov. Ramon Lacbain II.
Community pharmacies have also been established in villages in Subic, Castillejos, San Felipe and Sta. Cruz towns and Olongapo City in the last nine months, according to Lacbain.
The foundation provides an initial stock worth P3,000 to each outlet. Funding came from the priority development assistance of Senators Edgardo Angara and Francis Pangilinan.
Each pharmacy is managed by 10 volunteers.
Alvarado said the Mandaloy outlet still manages to get a 20-percent income despite the low prices of medicines.
Lacbain said residents are provided a price list of medicines to guard against overpricing. The price list is also displayed in the store, usually a garage of a volunteer.
The medicines are strictly for family use and not for resale, he said.
Lacbain said the project has targeted to organize 200 Botika Natin sa Nayon outlets in Zambales and Olongapo City.
He appealed to overseas Filipino workers in those areas to support their initiative to bring cheap medicines within the reach of poor residents in the province.
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
3:50 PM
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