DOH Insulin Access Program - Get The Cheapest Insulin In The Philippines!

I have been recently reunited to Insulin after breaking up my almost a year of relationship with oral medicines because it is not working well with me anymore. As a Type 1 diabetic, I should not even consider going on oral medications but cost of Insulin is a major concern for me, I'm just glad there is no serious complications that arises while I was under Glucophage (Metformin HCl).

This is my life support. Insulin Basal and Bolus, for life..

Even if I have work, it's really a burden for me to buy Insulin because it is indeed very costly. Imagine Lantus Solostar 3mL Pen costs around 850+ pesos and I consume it for only 6 days, Humalog 3mL cartridge I consume for about 10 days that costs 800+ pesos. If I'm going to sum all my expenses on medicines and syringes alone it will cost me around 6,000 pesos a month, that's roughly half of what I am getting from my job, and I still need to pay for the house rent, water, electric and telephone bills and ofcourse my son's therapy and food. I haven't included the cost of blood glucose strips yet, that's gonna be around 5,000 pesos if you test pre and post meals in a month. For an average earner like me, it's gonna be a challenge on how to budget my monthly salary with everything that's coming my way. No wonder some people give up and die from diabetes complications, especially the poor that can't afford to pay for Insulin to live.

Because of the need, I tried my best to look for other ways to earn money to fund my medications and this lead me to go on research as to where I can get Insulin at the cheapest rate here in the Philippines. After some time of asking Doctors and fellow diabetics as to where I can get a cheaper stash, an answer came to me from a click of the mouse on the google search engine. I stumble upon Department Of Health (DOH) Website and found Insulin Access Program.

What is Insulin Access Program

The National Center for Pharmaceutical Access and Management (NCPAM), DOH in partnership with Eli Lilly Philippines and Sanofi-Adventis Phils., by virtue of Memoranda of Agreement (MOA), a Deparment Order No. 2010-0077 dated April 3, 2010 Subject: Implementing Guidelines of the DOH insulin Access Program for the DOH Hospitals was issued.

The said companies voluntarily offered their products at much reduced affordable prices to the DOH retained hospitals, and with the primary objective to improve diabetic patient's access to affordable quality drugs considering their availability only to the public sector, under a unified pricing scheme and rational drug use. This result in bigger saving on the part of the patients.

What is DOH Insulin Access Program?

The DOH Insulin Access Program is a program under the Medicine Access Program (MAP) of the Department of Health (DOH) through the National Center for Pharmaceutical Access and Management (NCPAM) provides access to medicines for diabetic patients and is in line with Millenium Development Goal No. 8 aims to develop global partnership for development, where partner pharmaceutical companies participate by providing access to affordable Insulin products through the consignment system, implementation of which was started in 2009.

What are the access sites?

Access Sites

• Amang Rodriguez Medical Center
• Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center
• Quirino Memorial Medical Center
• Mayor Hilarion A. Ramiro Sr. Regional Training & Teaching Hospital
• Veterans Regional Hospital
• Davao Regional Hospital
• Bicol Medical Center
• Bicol Regional Training & Teaching Hospital
• Las Pinas General Hospital
• National Center for Mental Health
• Cagayan Valley Medical Center
• Batangas Regional Hospital
• Tondo Medical Center
• National Kidney & Transplant Institute
• Eastern Visayas Medical Center
• Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital
• Region I Medical Center
• Baguio General Hospital
• Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center
• Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital
• Lung Center of the Phils.
• Southern Philippines Medical Center

What are the offered prices?

Unified Cost and Selling Prices of Insulin Products to DOH-Retained Hospitals

Product	DOH
Biphasic Isophane Human Insulin 70/30 (70% Isophane Suspension +30% Soluble Insulin) 100 IU/ml, 10ml vial	500.00
Regular Insulin 100IU/mL, 10mL Vial 10mL	500.00
Isophane Insulin Human 100 IU/mL, 10mL Vial	500.00

After reading everything I was so delighted and I can't believe that there is a program like this provided by the Government. Since I have work I asked my mom to visit National Center for Mental Health since this is the nearest to us and ask for more information about this and how I can avail.

The Pharmacist is very accommodating over the phone since I called my mom so I can talk to them personally. She answers all my questions clearly and precisely and the next day, I was already able to avail of the Insulin.

Here are the questions I asked her:

Who are eligible to for Insulin Access Program?

• Anyone is eligible as long as they are diabetic and will use the product solely for personal use.

What do we need to bring?

• All you need is a prescription from the doctor and the amount for payment.

What if I cannot buy my medicine, can I send someone to buy for me?

• Yes, no need for authorization. Prescription alone will do.

Is there a limit of how many we can buy?

• No, but we make sure that we won't be selling too many to just one person, just enough for what they need. We keep the prescription after you buy for regulation purposes.

What are the products and how much is the price for each?

• Humulin N, Humulin R and Humulin 70/30 only costs 413.40 pesos, it was lowered recently.

What is the expiration date of the drugs?

• We sell Insulin that is still good for 2 years after you buy them.

Do you honor Senior Citizen Discount on top of that price?

• Yes, provided that the prescription is named after the Senior Citizen, together with the booklet and ID. If a representative will buy on the Senior's behalf, they need to secure a signed authorization letter and their valid ID.

 Do you issue receipts?

• Yes we do. But we use Government issued receipts and not the machine printed ones.

Asked Mom to buy me 2 boxes! I saved a huge lot!

Humulin N is 1,345 pesos in Drugstores and I got it for 413.40 pesos only because of the Insulin Access Program of DOH. That's only a fraction of the price! Very affordable! I'm glad my doctor agreed that I switch to this Insulin. Actually, this is the first insulin I used 15 years ago. It's nice to come back to it, at a good price!

Not only that, Department Of Health also has other Medicine Access Programs that may benefit you or your family. For more information, please visit their website at http://uhmis2.doh.gov.ph/doh_ncpam/.

My new diabetes control partners!

I believe that our government has many programs to help us get a quality life, it's just that we are not aware of what we should be getting or what we should avail of. I believe that information dissemination about these kinds of programs is not well crafted at the moment. I hope that they can work on this so that many people, especially the needy can feel the presence of the government doing action for it's citizens welfare and avail of the programs for those benefit that they truly deserve.

I would like to thank the Department Of Health, especially the authors of this program for acknowledging the need of diabetics for Insulin to live and subsidizing the cost for us. It's a huge help!

I am appealing to you to kindly spread the information to everyone, especially those diabetics who will greatly gain from this. Let us be a tool for this program to be utilized by those who deserve it.

Good Vibes everyone and Sweet Running!