Ensuring Access To Essential Medicines: Addressing The Issue Of Patients Unable To Procure Life-Saving Drugs

The Right to Health and the Unaffordability of Life-Saving Drugs

Discuss about the Patient Access to Prohibitively Expensive Medicines.

Various international agreements such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights explicitly mention the Right to Health as one of the fundamental rights which every human being is entitled to and no person shall be denied this right(“Human rights and health”, 2018). Despite the existence of this right, the patients across the world are still not able to procure the most essential medicines which are essential for their treatment. This is not just limited to the poor countries of Asia and Africa but can also be seen and felt in the more advanced countries of Europe and North America (World Health Organization, 2017). The inability of the patients to procure costly medicines can be attributed to several reasons. The foremost cause of the unaffordability of life saving drugs and medicines is that they are in limited stock due to which the prices of such medicines are on the higher side(Bashaar et al., 2017). The expensive medicines are not affordable by the patients who come from poor working-class families. The market dynamics act against the poor patients and the unavailability of the Biosimilar, which is the substitute of the life saving costly drugs, means that the poor patients are left without any access to medicines and healthcare facilities (Zhang & Chi, 2014). The common good philosophy which adheres to the principle of sharing the common reswithources goes against the current scenario where patients are denied the basic right to health because of the unaffordability to pay the expenses for the medicines. The people employed in the healthcare services, despite the willingness to help the patients, face the dilemma of whether to go against the organizational goals of following the respected protocols of the designated organizations wherein they are employed (Bigdeli, Peters& Wagner, 2014).This is due to the fact that the employees of the healthcare services are employees of the organizations and they have to abide by the rules and regulations of the organizations. The organizations also have to keep the financial aspect intact. In these circumstances, they face a conflict of interest while performing Common Good.

The issue of the patients not being able to procure the expensive medicines can be mitigated by the help and support from the Government as well as the International Bodies, such as the United Nations Organization, the Red Cross, the World Health Organization. If the Government or the International Bodies agree to sell the medicines at a subsidized value then it becomes easier for the patients to procure such medicines (Moura, 2017). The people are a form of resource for the country and for the proper functioning of the country’s economy, it is imperative that the human resources are maintained by the Administration. The interference by the Government or the International Bodies, will lead to the expenditure of the Exchequer of the Government which the Government can balance out by imposing taxes on the sale of luxury commodities as the rich can afford to spend more money to buy luxury commodities or in economical terminology, the Veblen Goods (Lee, 2017). Although, there is no direct evidence to this idea being implemented anywhere but there are various countries which provides subsidies to the people for buying medicines such as New Zealand offering Prescription Subsidies and India offering subsidies on the essential medicines as well as levying heavy taxes on the cost of the luxury cars.

Causes of Unaffordability of Life-Saving Drugs

The Government of the respective countries must ensure that there are Biosimilars-substitutes to the lifesaving drugs, available in the market. In case the prices of the original life saving drugs are not affordable by the poor people, they must have access to the Biosimilar products (Davis et al., 2017). The poor patients suffering from terminal diseases are at a great disadvantage when it comes to procuring life saving drugs. If the manufacturers can supply similar alternative products at a cheap price, then it will be hugely beneficial for the common poor people. The manufacturers of Pharmaceutical medicines must do so as a moral responsibility under Common Good philosophy. This is not always possible but with the support and assistance of the Government, this can be practiced to a certain level. The mot point is to assist the poor patients who are living in impoverished conditions. If they can be guaranteed better access to medical facilities, then the issue of poverty can be addressed in a much better way. The biosimilar may not have the brand name of the Pharmaceutical company but it must have the prescribed dosage of the drugs which are present in the original Medicine manufactured by the Pharmaceutical Brand (Bressler &Dingermann, 2015). Along with the Biosimilar Medicines, there exists another type of Medicine which are called the Generic Medicines. The Generic medicines are a type of pharmaceutical drug which is a substitute for the prescribed costly medicine but have an equal amount of strength, dosage, quality and performance as that of the costly branded medicine. The Generic Medicines should be equivalent of the costly medicine and must be manufactured for the welfare of the poor patients.

The Government, as well as the International Bodies, must ensure that the Generic or the Biosimilar medicines are available at the shops catering to the welfare of the poor patients. The doctors should be advised not to recommend costly medicines of established Pharmaceutical Brands to the patients who can least afford them. Rather, the doctors must prescribe the generic or the Biosimilar medicines to the patients from the poor working-class families. It must be ensured that the people from poor working-class families are the beneficiaries of the Biosimilar or the Generic Medicines and these medicines are not bought by the people from middle class or rich families (Yadav & Rawal, 2015). At the Local Level, the Practice of Community Service and Charity serviced should be encouraged so that the poor get financial aid and support from the other members of the society. Doing this will make the people from the poor working-class families feel a part of the society and not make them feel alienated. The people from the well-off families can also practice Common Good by doing Charity work and organizing Community Service for the Poor members of the society. The issue of the poor patients coming from the poor working class families not getting access to buy the medicines have been a common issue in many countries. The complexities of the issue in countries with huge population of impoverished people. The problem can be addressed only if all the people around the globe as well as the leaders of the nations unite in order to make it a right for everyone to have access to better healthcare facilities. Doing this will require the effort as well as assistance from many people. The people from the well off families must understand the fact that they have a social responsibility towards the society as well as the planet. This needs to be done by the assistance of the politicians and the leaders.

Mitigating the Issue of Unaffordability of Life-Saving Drugs

The Healthcare Fraternity must organize free medical camps in the towns and villages which have a high population of poor working-class families. In the cities, there are areas where the poor people live together with such as ghettos and slums. These places, despite being cheap and affordable for the poor residents, are unhygienic and have poor sanitation facilities. The Healthcare Fraternity can help spread awareness about the ill effects of living in poor hygiene and not maintaining proper sanitation. Many diseases can be prevented from escalating into major diseases if the poor people are enlightened by the Healthcare Fraternity. The philosophy of Common Good must be taught to the children at schools so that the feeling of unity and brotherhood among the different class of people living in the society is fostered in them. The children must be taught to not be biased and prejudiced against the poor people. The Government must ensure that the Poor Patients get access to all the healthcare services and money should not be a deterring factor in procuring the medicines. To efficiently distribute the medicines to the needy and the patients from the poor families, a proper distribution mechanism must be put in place. There must be a governing body to evaluate and assess the distribution of the medicines and healthcare benefits to the poor communities. The Right to Health is a fundamental right and every individual has the right to get access to proper treatment and medicines. In a Global perspective, the problem can be addressed by involving the Non-Profit Organizations, the Government Agencies, the International Organizations, the civil society. By the collaboration of all these groups, the patients from poorer sections of the society can get access to prohibitively expensive medicines.

References

Bashaar, M., Hassali, M. A., Saleem, F., ALrasheedy, A. A., &Thawani, V. (2017). Efficacy of international approaches to medicine price regulation and control: A scoping review. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science Vol, 7(04), 227-241.

Bigdeli, M., Peters, D., & Wagner, A. (2014). Medicines in health systems. Geneva: World Health Organisation.

Bressler, B., &Dingermann, T. (2015). Establishing a new marketplace for biologic therapy with biosimilar agents– the importance of extrapolation of data. Biosimilars, 5, 41-48.

Davis, G. E. B. A. L., Miller, J. D., Sharfstein, J. M., &Kesselheim, A. S. (2017). LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics.

Human rights and health. 2018. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/human-rights-and-health

Lee, M. (2017). A Conceptual Understanding of Inconspicuous Consumption in the Luxury Business Sector. The essence of luxury, 77.

Moura, E. A. D. C. (2017). Right to health, public policy and drug purveyance: sustainability through integrated actions and popular participation in public health. Revista dos Tribunais, 2017, 02-15.

World Health Organization. (2017). Towards access 2030: WHO essential medicines and health products strategic framework 2016-2030.

Yadav, S., & Rawal, G. (2015). Counterfeit drugs: Problem of developing and developed countries. Int J Pharmceut Chem Anal, 2(1), 46-50.

Zhang, N., & Chi, E. (2014). Statistical considerations for the development of biosimilar products. Generics and Biosimilars Initiative Journal (GaBI Journal), 3(1), 21-5.