Health Secretary Francisco Duque III asked consumers on Monday to keep receipts of their medicine purchases to help identify drugstores that are not complying with the Cheaper Medicines Act. "Don’t forget to keep your receipts. It will be the best proof that a drugstore or pharmacy is defying the order. That will be a key piece of evidence in any investigation," Duque said in an interview on dzBB radio.\

He urged the public to report erring drug retailers to the DOH by calling 807-0751 or 8078275. DOH officials caught some drugstores defying a presidential order to slash retail prices of essential medicines based on a receipt shown by one customer, he said.

Duque on Saturday said two major drugstores have been caught so far since the government started enforcing Executive Order (EO) No. 821. Signed last month by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, EO 821 mandates a 50-percent cut on the prices of five medicines considered essential and currently sold at exorbitant prices in the Philippines. [See 2 firms face probe for failing to cut drug prices]

These are the anti-hypertensive Amlodipine, the anti-cholesterol Atorvastatin; the anti-infection Azithromycin, and the anti-cancer drugs Cytarabine and Doxorubicin. While there were problems encountered in the enforcement of the Cheaper Medicines Act, these were expected, Duque said.

“So far so good pero siyempre ‘di perfect. Kahit anong sa unang gawa may kaunting gusot (So far so good, but of course it was not perfect. But then again, we had expected to run into some problems)," he said. He reminded drugstores and pharmacies that they face sanctions ranging from a P1,000 fine to the loss of their license to operate and the cancellation of their certificate of product registration.

The DOH is also checking if prices of 16 other drugs were likewise slashed, as earlier promised by drug makers.

As a compromise with drug makers, the DOH agreed to let them voluntarily reduce the prices of 16 other essential medicines from10 to 50-percent.

Small drugstores and medium-scale drugstores with manua.inventory systems were given up to Sept. 15 to comply with the 50-percent price cut.

Duque said the DOH will continue to iron out their enforcement of the 50-percent price cut, including the mechanics of investigating defiant drugstores and pharmacies.

He also said they are working on establishing complaints desks in health centers nationwide.

"We have started setting up the desks in the regions but we will need time before they become fully operational," he said.

Duque also said they will soon come up with a new batch of medicines whose prices will be slashed 50 percent.

“Ang mahalaga rito pagkatapos ng tatlong buwan rerepasuhin natin, alamin natin at susukatin natin ang naging tagumpay ng implementation ng cheaper medicine (After three months, we will review our program and fine-tune the implementation)," he said