EDITORIAL - Fake medical endorsements

Over the weekend, the Department of Health warned the public against fake DOH websites touting certain medications for hypertension.

The DOH is not the only entity used for such scams. With the ever-increasing sophistication of generative artificial intelligence, several known personalities have been used without their consent to endorse not only unregistered medications but also investment scams.

Health care is a major concern for many Filipinos, making them vulnerable to miracle cures and affordable drugs touted by known personalities. It is evil to exploit this need, and authorities must launch an aggressive campaign to stop it.

The government must come down hard on products that resort to fake endorsements. Creators of online content using AI can be difficult to track down, but authorities must not stop trying to catch the scammers. Penalties must be imposed on the manufacturers of the products. If these are made overseas, complaints can be coursed through official government channels.

At the same time, the DOH can intensify campaigns to warn the public about fake testimonials, false endorsements from experts, and misleading health claims. The DOH has stressed that it has one official website, www.doh.gov.ph. Official social media accounts of the DOH, apart from the website, are DOHgovph on Facebook, and on Instagram, @doh.philippines.

The vulnerability of many Filipinos to such fake endorsements should also bring home to the government the importance of scaling up public health care.

This cannot happen when Congress, with the concurrence of Malacañang, slashes billions in funding from the health budget and impounds supposed savings of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. for realignment to lawmakers’ pork barrel. A law covers the utilization of any excess funds of PhilHealth, and it is not supposed to be for unprogrammed appropriations.

At the same time, there must be sincere efforts to depoliticize health care. Why should taxpayers have to go through politicians for endorsement of their needed health care services? Health care must be insulated from politics, in the same way that the conditional cash transfer or 4Ps is designed to be de-politicized.

Efficiency in the delivery of health services must be institutionalized rather than dependent on political endorsement. With sufficient health care, people will be less vulnerable to fake endorsements of medical treatments.