DOH to doctors: Accepting gifts from drug firms for favor 'unethical'

The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday reminded the country's health professionals and personnel that accepting gifts from pharmaceutical companies in exchange for a favor is "unethical."

"The Department of Health strictly reminds all health professionals and personnel that accepting gifts, grants, or any emoluments from biopharmaceutical companies or members of the industry  in exchange of any act benefitting such company or member of the industry is unethical," Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said in a statement.

Herbosa said medical professionals "are expected to uphold professional and ethical standards."

"Societal pressures, financial gains, and administrative exigencies shall not compromise the rights of the patient to quality healthcare services," he added.

The DOH chief issued the statement amid recent reports of drug firms allegedly giving privileges to medical professionals and using multi-level marketing schemes to entice them to advertise and prescribe medical products.

In a Senate hearing early this month, Senator Raffy Tulfo said that some doctors prefer to prescribe branded medicine over generic ones allegedly due to trips sponsored by the pharmaceutical firms.

 Herbosa explained that while there is an existing executive order on the use of generic drugs in public hospitals, there are cases when the generic medicines are "not clinically effective."

While he acknowledged that there were "junkets" before, he said that the Philippines has become a signatory to the Mexico City Principles which provide voluntary codes of business ethics in the biopharmaceutical sector.—LDF, GMA Integrated News