‘One drugstore for every barangay’—DoH

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Health has established 846 Botika ng Barangay (drugstores selling affordable medicines) outlets as it targets the establishment of a drugstore for every village in Metro Manila, said Regional Director Eduardo Janairo of the DoH Center for Health Development – Metro Manila (DoH-CHD-MM).

“We have already covered almost half of the 1,705 barangays in Metro Manila. And we will be targeting the next half after we have identified and evaluated other applicants for the BnB program,” he said.

Janairo explained the campaign was part of the health department’s directive to promote equity in health by making sure that affordable, essential, safe and effective medicines were available and accessible to the public.

The DoH prioritizes areas that are “marginalized, underserved, critical and hard to reach,” said the regional director.

BnB outlets, established in barangays with P25,000 worth of medicines, are managed by legitimate community organizations, non-government organizations or the local government and supervised by trained operator or pharmacist, added Janairo.

The drugstore outlets need to be initially identified, evaluated and selected by the CHD and approved by the National Drug Policy-Pharmaceutical Management Unit (NDP-PMU 50).

They also have to be licensed by the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) to sell and distribute low-priced generic medicines, over-the-counter drugs and two selected, publicly-known prescription antibiotic drugs such as Amoxicillion and Cotrimoxazole.

Available at the BnB outlets are medicines such as Paracetamol, Mefanamic Acid, Salbutamol, Multi-vitamins, Oresol, Metroprolol, Ascorbic Acid, metformin, Glibenclamide and other Food and Drugs Authority (FDA)-approved herbal medicines made from Lagundi and Sambong.

The BnB program initially sought to provide one outlet to serve three adjacent villages but as many villages were highly populated, the DOH changed their target.