Eight out of ten pharmacies accredited under PhilHealth’s Gamot medicine program are private businesses rather than government pharmacies—a deliberate design choice driven by the recognition that private pharmacies have the supply chain expertise to ensure medicines are reliably available when patients arrive, PhilHealth President and CEO Beverly Ho said Saturday.
Ho made the disclosure in an interview on DZRH News program Special on Saturday on August 22, as part of the DZRH SONA 2026 Series featuring the Department of Health and PhilHealth.
The PhilHealth chief said the original design of the Yakap primary care program required health centers and Yakap providers to supply the 21 medicines directly to patients, but this proved difficult in practice because healthcare providers are not trained in pharmacy logistics and supply chain management.
“Hindi naman din nila expertise na maging parmasya, ‘di ba? Kaya po na-introduce yung Gamot program at yung mga ginawang partner dun ay yung mga eksperto sa pagma-manage ng supply chain ng gamot—meaning the pharmacies,” Ho said.
Ho said accrediting private pharmacies to carry the Gamot medicines solved the availability problem, as these businesses already have established supply chains, trained staff, and inventory management systems designed specifically to ensure medicines are in stock.
“Actually, in fact, ngayon 80% po ng aming accredited drugstores sa Gamot program ay private. That assures availability, ’cause that’s their expertise, to make sure na meron pong available ‘pag pumunta yung pasyente dun sa pharmacy,” she said.
The PhilHealth chief said Health Secretary Edwin Mercado has directed that starting next year, all GAMOT program medicines will be shifted entirely to pharmacy pickup rather than being dispensed at the clinic, simplifying the process for patients and removing the burden from Yakap providers who are not equipped to function as dispensing pharmacies.
Ho said the GAMOT network now has 3,000 accredited pharmacies nationwide, with each patient’s prescription issued with a QR code that can be redeemed at any of these locations regardless of where the prescription was originally written.
