Amid the increasing cost of some basic commodities in the Philippines, the prices of medicines in the country remain stable, the Department of Health (DOH) said.

This was based on the recent monitoring of medicine prices in December last year, said DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire in a press briefing on Wednesday, Jan. 25.

“Pag tiningnan natin sa kabuuan, nagkakaroon tayo ng (When we look at it as a whole, we have) stable prices of our medicines,” said Vergeire.

However, the DOH found a slight increase in the prices of medicines for hypertension.

“Base doon sa monitoring namin last December 2022...isang set ng gamot---these hypertensive medicines nagkaroon po tayo ng konting pagtaas (Based on our monitoring last December 2022... a set of drugs---the hypertensive medicines had a slight increase ) which was because of the inflation and the peso devaluation,” she said.

Vergeire said that the stable medicine prices in the country was because of the implementation of the Maximum Drug Retail Price (MDRP).

Based on the DOH website, there are now 204 medicines under the MDRP list since it was first implemented in June 2020.

The DOH said that because of the implementation of MDRP, “medicines for top burden of diseases were reduced by up to 93 percent.”

The MDRP covers medicines for asthma, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, among others.

“Kailangan nandoon siya sa capping natin (There needs to be a capping), regulating their prices para mas maging accessible sa ating mga kababayan (to make them more accessible to our citizens),” said Vergeire.

“Hanggang ngayon, in effect naman ang price cap na ito (Until now, this price cap is in effect) and we can still regulate,” she added.

Currently, Filipino consumers have seen a sharp increase in some basic commodities. One example is the price of onions, wherein local red onions now range between ₱500 to ₱720 per kilo, while local white onions are currently being sold for ₱600 per kilo.

Also, it was recently reported that retail prices for eggs have gone up between ₱9 and ₱10 per piece. There was also a price increase in terms of electricity and transport services.

“The government is continuously implementing targeted subsidies and discounts to allay the impact of the higher prices of essential goods, especially for the vulnerable sectors and low-income earners of our society,” said National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan in a statement last December.