GMA 50, a project of the Department of Health, aims to make medicines affordable and available to the masses through the Botica ng Barangay.
The Botica ng Barangay is a drug outlet where primary and commonly used drugs are sold in depressed, far-flung areas with no access to medicines like remote mountain barangays.
Each outlet avails of drugs and medicines worth P25,000 that are either funded by the DOH or the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes.
Although the Botica ng Barangay encouraged the use of generic drugs, two prescriptive drugs called Cotrimoxazole and Amoxicillin are also available in these outlets.
Through this project, DOH managed to convince Unilab and GSK to help in the campaign of lowering the prices in medicines.
The effort led to the launching of "Rite Med" for Unilab and "Value Health" for GSK where medicines are priced 30 to 50 percent lower than other medicines.
This is in response to the call of President Arroyo to make medicines more affordable without sacrificing quality.
With these programs, the public is seen to completely take the prescribed dosage because of the affordability of medicines.
In the province, Botica ng Barangay outlets have been established as an answer to the call of the President and in support to the project of the DOH.
A total of 83 Botica ng Barangay outlets have been established in the region, 16 of which are in Cebu, 19 in Bohol and 48 are in Negros Oriental. - Jasmin R. Uy