Senior booklets a waste of time for seniors and govt
THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has said it supports the call of two lawmakers to abolish the senior citizen’s purchase slip booklet following numerous complaints from the elderly.
Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said his department would take the lead in reaching out to the Department of Health (DoH) and other agencies concerned on the proposal of ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo and Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo.
DSWD Assistant Secretary for Strategic Communications Romel Lopez said the department, in previous years, had received various concerns and complaints through multiple means of communication relative to the senior citizen discounts.
Gatchalian directed the agency’s Program Management Bureau (PMB) to study the issue, which has been the subject of a congressional inquiry.
DSWD-PMB’s position paper dated Feb. 1, 2024, recommended to Gatchalian the abolition of the purchase slip booklet as a requirement for the purchase of medicines by senior citizens. Instead, the DSWDPMB recommended the adoption of digitized records for senior citizens, “considering the mobility and tendency to forget to bring their booklets and even read their content, it is no longer convenient on the part of senior citizens to use purchase slip booklets.”
The seniors’ “forgetfulness” is not the only reason we should do away with these booklets. They are also often out of print or not available when the senior citizens take the time to go to their senior citizens’ offices in the cities and towns.
“With the fast-paced technology and innovations, it is recommended that we adopt an established system for monitoring, storing and reporting data toward an efficient, consistent and uniform implementation of the law and provisions to avail of medicines, basic necessities and prime commodities, among others,” the PMB said in its position paper.
The PMB maintained that in this digitalization, agencies such as the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC), Department of Information and Communication Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Health, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Justice, and representatives from nongovernment organizations should partner with the private sector offering services to senior citizens.
The creation of the National Commission of Senior Citizens in 2019 by Republic Act 11350 abolished the National Coordinating and Monitoring Board (NCMB), which was formerly chaired by the DSWD with member agencies tasked to monitor the uniform implementation of RA 9994 or the “Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.”
“The NCSC must conduct an immediate policy review accompanied by the issuance of guidelines that outline the benefits of abolishing the use of a physical booklet system, data sharing mechanisms of pharmacies and/or other relevant stakeholders nationwide, and the integration of the PhilSys ID system. The call for policy review will ensure the government’s commitment to delivering improved services to our senior citizens, embracing new technological advancements, and fostering more integrated and efficient government services,” the DSWD-PMB said.
The Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 (RA 9994) provides for the grant of privileges to senior citizens, including a 20-percent discount and exemption from the value-added tax in the sale of specific goods and services from all establishments. This privilege is only for the exclusive use and enjoyment of the senior citizens and not the people with them.
Although RA 9994 did not have a provision mandating the use of purchase slip booklets, the Department of Health (DoH) came out with two administrative orders that required senior citizens to present a purchase slip booklet to all hospitals and drug retail outlets.
The DoH directed that “all hospitals and drug retail outlets shall require senior citizens or their representative to present the purchase slip booklets to record the kind of over-the-counter medicine purchased, how many, when and where it was purchased.” The purpose of the purchase slip booklets is to help drugstores monitor the last purchase made by senior citizens for a certain medicine.
In September 2023, Rep. Mark Go of Baguio City’s lone district filed a House resolution urging the DoH to discontinue the implementation of the booklet for senior citizens when buying medicines. On Oct. 24, 2023, the DSWD wrote the DoH expressing its support for the removal of the purchase slip booklet and welcomed any potential modification that would streamline the requirements, provided that the monitoring of purchases is ensured pending digitalization.
Digitizing seniors’ medical records will save time, energy and resources and will certainly bring the country to the 21st country.