Senate of the Philippines. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — Luis Raymond Go, chairperson and chief executive officer of the controversial Bell Kenz-Pharma Inc., personally appeared before the Senate on Tuesday.
He showed up at the chamber as it began its investigation into the alleged collusion between doctors and pharmaceutical firms in prescribing medicines.
READ: Jinggoy Estrada fleshes out multi-million doctors-pharma collusion
Senators JV Ejercito, Jinggoy Estrada, and Raffy Tulfo raised their concerns on the issue, reiterating that the alleged scheme “hurts the credibility and integrity of the medical profession” and “undermines public trust in healthcare.”
Ejercito said he was made aware of the controversy two to three months ago when he was approached by some pharmaceutical companies and “some whistleblowers.”
“We will look into it kung talagang may violation sa ethical standards of medical practices at ‘yun nga, ‘yung conflict kasi nga po kung ikaw pasyente, kung ano ang prescribed ng doctor syempre susunod ka eh. Lalo na sa probinsya,” said Ejercito then.
(We will look into it if there is, indeed, a violation of ethical standards of medical practices. The conflict is that if you are the patient, you will heed what was prescribed to you by your doctor. Especially those who are in the province.)
READ: Tulfo wants ban, recall of ‘ineffective’ generic medicines
On the other hand, Estrada said medical practitioners “conniving” with pharmaceutical firms allegedly receive at least eight percent of rebates, amounting to around P2 million, based on their monthly productivity.
This is on top of luxury trips and items they receive when their “quotas” are met.
Before Ejercito and Estrada’s exposé, Tulfo disclosed that some physicians enjoy pharmaceutical-sponsored junkets, alleging that these illegal and controversial schemes are why physicians mostly prescribe branded medicines.
Bell-Kenz earlier denied what it called “misinformed” and “unfounded” allegations against their firm.