Senior Citizen party-list Rep. Rodolfo “Ompong” Ordanes lauded the decision of the Department of Health to do away with the purchase discount booklets for the senior citizens in buying medicines.
In an interview, Ordanes said such a move would benefit around 12 million senior citizens across the country.
“This is a very good Christmas gift for all senior citizens. This is a result of our repeated calls to do away with the purchase discount booklets since this only makes our senior citizens uncomfortable,” said Ordanes, who chairs the Committee on Senior Citizens and member of the House’s Committee on Health.
The use of purchase discount booklets has been the subject of complaints among the senior citizens who usually forget to bring it with them when purchasing medicines.
While some stores would consider granting the 20 percent discount when the senior citizens would explain that they forgot to bring it, some, however, are very strict in the no-purchase booklet-no discount rule.
Ordanes explained that the DOH decision was an offshoot of the House Resolution approved by Speaker Martin Romualdez and the entire Lower House under the House Resolutions he filed and that of Cong. Mark Go.
The House Resolution 2031 was approved in September this year.
With the DOH decision, Ordanes said only senior citizens identification cards and prescriptions are needed to avail of discounts.