Bill seeks free medicine for poor

There is a bill in the House of Representatives seeking to require all local governments to set aside part of their national tax allotments for medicine to be given, through their health facilities, for free to poor patients. In House Bill No. 6217, which was referred to the committee on local government, Parañaque City Rep. Gustavo Tambunting cited the high cost of medicine and the state’s duty to provide free medical care to paupers. His proposed measure includes a penal provision, where fraud pertaining to the purchase and distribution of the free medicine for indigents would be punished with two to seven years of imprisonment. The bill provides, “It shall be the obligation of all local governments to set aside and earmark a portion of their national tax allotments for appropriation for free medicines to be distributed to the public hospitals, clinics, dispensaries or other outlets to indigent patients for free in their localities.”