Manila lends hard-to-find COVID meds to hospitals
THE city of Manila is lending the pricey, hard-to-find medicines which it recently purchased to other public and private hospitals that may need them, for the treatment of severe and critical COVID-19 cases.
This was announced by Mayor Isko Moreno, who said that the local government recently purchased Tocilizumab and another batch of Remdesivir, in an effort to also make them accessible to the city’s poor residents and save them from sure death. These two medicines are costly specially Tocilizumab, which is even rare and difficult to access in the country.
Moreno said he and Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna have put their heads together to continuously come up with measures that would help save precious lives amid the continuing surge in cases of those being infected with the coronavirus.
Over the weekend, Moreno said the city ordered 1,000 vials of Tocilizumab and 1,000 Remdesivir which, so far, had been proven effective in patients falling under severe and critical cases.
“Halos lahat ng doktor sa COVID, be it sa mamahaling private hospitals, national hospitals o local hospitals ay inirereseta ang mga produktong ito kaya kawawa ang mahihirap. Walang mabilhan ng mga ito kahit pa me pera ka…mahirap hanapin at napakamahal lalo na sa isang mahirap,” Moreno said.
Based on records, the mayor said the use of the said medicines has saved many COVID patients who were already under critical and severe conditions.
“We acquired these so we can save lives. As we speak, marami nang nadugtungan na buhay ang mga gamot na ito na mahirap hanapin. Sa tulong ni Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna na isang doktora, mabilis naiibsan ang pangangailangan ng ating mga kababayan,” Moreno added.
Moreno said the city government was able to get a compassionate permit for the acquisition of the said medicines.
So far, he said the city has lent to both private and public hospitals, adding that the offer will be good only while supplies last. Doctors or hospital authorities may coordinate either with the Manila Health Department headed by Dr. Arnold Pangan or with any of the six hospitals being run by the city of Manila.
All that they have to present is the concerned patient’s clinical abstract, prescription and the contact person, which is either the attending doctor or hospital representative.
In some private hospitals, a Remdesivir costs up to P16,000 each while the price of Tocilizumab reaches up to P80,000 each.
