A HOUSE panel approved measures seeking to strengthen traditional and complementary medicine and the regulatory system to combat counterfeit drugs.

Members of the House Committee on Health saw the importance of House Bill 9160 which aims to strengthen the traditional and complementary medicine system by amending Republic Act No. 8423; and the House Bill 4779, which seek to strengthen the regulatory system in the country to combat counterfeit pharmaceutical products, welcomed the approval.

Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan, chairperson of the committee, is the author of the two measures.

“These proposals form an integral part of the on-going national efforts to build a more resilient health system, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought about unique health challenges the world over and for many Filipinos, it means soaring costs of hospitalization, medication, and healthcare amid shrinking budget and stagnant or even lost income.

“This pandemic has shown us just how indispensable the provision of safe and effective traditional medicine is as a critical tool for increasing overall access to health care and combatting the COVID-19 pandemic – and that is something we must never take for granted,” Tan explained.

The solon added that the 20-year-old law failed to address the proliferation of counterfeit pharmaceutical products.

These fake medicines threaten the people’s health, the security of the children and family and, in general, the prosperity of a community.

“It cannot be denied that we are faced by a rapidly growing flood of illegal and dangerous pharmaceutical products,” Tan said.

House Bill No. 9160 aims to strengthen the TAMA Law of 1997 by increasing safeguards that will adequately ensure safety, standardization, efficacy, quality, availability and preservation of services that are made available to the public.

The bill is primarily designed to meet head-on the challenges besetting the Traditional and Alternative Health Care Industry and to attain its ultimate goal of providing the people with a wider range of quality, safe, effective and cost-efficient health services.

Once enacted into law, it will enable the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) to have exclusive authority as well as to unify all the regulations concerning traditional and complementary medicine that will facilitate the establishment of a one-stop-shop for the provision of licenses, certificates and the likes for the practitioners and operators.

House Bill No. 4779, on the other hand, seeks to strengthen the regulatory system in the country to combat counterfeit pharmaceutical products by declaring the manufacture, importation, distribution, sale or offer for sale, or possession of counterfeit pharmaceutical products as an offence involving economic sabotage and providing stricter penalties for violations of this Act.

Republic Act 8203 or the Special Law on Counterfeit Drugs defines counterfeit medicines, declares prohibited acts, identifies liable parties, and imposes administrative sanctions and penalties involved. It was enacted in 1996 and is in force for more than 24 years. In spite of this, counterfeit drugs still proliferate in the country.