Contraceptives stored at DOH to expire next year

MANILA, Philippines — With the temporary restraining order (TRO) now lifted, at least 1,000 sub-dermal implants will have to be injected daily before they expire next year, the Commission on Population (PopCom) said yesterday.

According to PopCom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III, those in charge of administering the implants are faced with the huge task of injecting at least 1,000 women with the implants every day as the contraceptives are set to expire in September 2018.

“A majority of 200,000 implants still with the central Department of Health (DOH) office are expiring in September 2018. This means that we have to insert 20,000 per month in the next 10 months, that is 1,000 insertions per working day,” he said.     

Implanon and Implanon NXT had been withdrawn from the DOH’s family planning program in June 2015 because of the TRO issued by the Supreme Court (SC) in relation to a petition of the Alliance for Family Foundation Philippines Inc. (ALFI).

ALFI claimed that the implants, which could stop pregnancy for two years when injected, can actually cause abortion. 

The TRO was automatically lifted after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined after a four-month technical evaluation that the implants are not abortifacients.

Perez added that once the certificates of product registration of the two implants and the 49 other contraceptives covered by the TRO are issued by the FDA, they could again be available in the market. 

Opposing groups fight on

Two civil society groups promoting the protection of the rights of women backed the DOH and FDA against the threat of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III that the two agencies could be in for a tough time at the Senate when their budgets for next year are taken up because of FDA’s decision.

Ben de Leon, president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development, said Sotto should reconsider his stand against contraceptives now that the FDA has declared these devices are not abortifacients. 

De Leon said the FDA findings are based on “scientific evidence attested by experts.”

De Leon urged Sotto to follow the FDA decision and “monitor the implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RH) law so that it is not violated.”                       

Junice Melgar, executive director of Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, said DOH’s budget request for its family planning program “has been small at P165 million for 2017 because it covers only contraceptives that were held up by the TRO.” – With Jess Diaz