HEALTH SECRETARY Teodoro J. Herbosa on Monday signed an administrative order (AO) removing the purchase booklet requirement for senior citizens’ medical discount.
The order is in line with the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, the Department of Health (DoH) said in a statement.
Before AO No. 2024-0017, which deletes the requirement for seniors to present a purchase booklet to drugstores, senior citizens were required to present valid identification and a doctor’s prescription to avail themselves of medical discounts.
Albay Rep. Jose Maria Clemente S. Salceda lauded DoH for heeding the House’s call to remove the purchase booklet requirement for availing of senior citizen medicine discounts.
Citing a previous committee hearing, Mr. Salceda said the booklet requirement often causes senior citizens to be denied essential medicines.
“Senior citizens often forget these documents, or lose them,” he said in a statement as he welcomed DoH’s latest AO.
He said the 20% medicine discount, along with the VAT (value-added tax)-free treatment for a significant number of medicines, has been a “lifesaver” for many senior citizens.
“The January to March 2024 hearings of the House on senior and persons with disabilities discounts remains one of its most productive undertakings ever. We obtained at least P112 billion in benefits for these sectors, without even changing any laws yet. The removal of the booklet requirement is one of its major accomplishments,” he said. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza