A PHILIPPINE senator called on drugstores and pharmaceutical retailers on Sunday to immediately provide its clients discounted rates for cancer, hypertension and diabetes medications that have been recently exempted from value-added tax (VAT).
“Given the high prices of basic commodities, it is important that affordable medicines are made available to those who have existing medical conditions,” Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said in a statement. “This should be implemented immediately for the welfare of our sick countrymen.”
Last month the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued a memo that updated the list of drugs exempted from VAT such as medicines treating kidney disease, mental illness, and tuberculosis.
Panitumumab and Fulvestrant, which are used to treat cancer, are also added to the VAT-exempt list which took effect on Feb. 19.
The BIR added 25 cancer treatment drugs to the list in June last year.
Under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE), approved drugs, medicines, vaccines and medical devices are to be considered exempt from VAT, as identified by the Food and Drug Administration.
“The public needs to be aware of the price of their medications and they need to see the VAT exemption on their receipts,” Mr. Gatchalian said in mixed English and Filipino. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
