The Department of Health’s (DOH) plan to slash drug prices for the seventh time will end up hurting the public’s right to good health because a lack of profit will prompt major foreign pharmaceutical companies to pull out of Taiwan, drug vendors warned yesterday.
Chinese Association for Pharmaceutical Agents (CAPA) president Chen Shih-hsiung (陳世雄) said in an effort to streamline expenses, the DOH is treating the drug industry as a “sacrificial lamb.”
Earlier this month, the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) said it would curtail drug prices in its latest effort to help the debt-ridden bureau avoid insolvency.
“In order to justify its decision to raise premiums, the DOH and the BNHI have used this fake issue to mislead the public into thinking it would be the answer to cut costs,” Chen said.
On average, local drug prices are 72 percent lower than in the US, he said.
Moreover, forcing hospitals or clinics to use cheaper or generic drugs means many patients would have to change their medication regimen, a big inconvenience for the public, he said.
CAPA is one of a number of medical associations demanding more benefits and better treatment from the DOH after the government recently said it would revamp the entire healthcare system.
DOH Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) told reporters last week that although he acknowledged that multiple mandatory price decreases have left pharmaceutical companies with narrow profit margins, the department would not push down prices to the point that Taiwan loses its attractiveness to foreign drugmakers.
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