by Rene V. Carbayas
ISABELA CITY, Basilan, Feb 6 (PIA) – Living up to its mission to improve the quality of life of Isabelaños in Basilan, just like providing every household a safe drinking water, the Isabela Water District (ISAWAD) opens last January 30 the first “Botika Para sa Taumbayan” in Zamboanga Peninsula.General manager Aleli Almodovar reveals that she feels very lucky for being entrusted with this project because it is her way of addressing the financial needs of her employees by providing cheap medicines they can buy.
She said the Botika Para sa Taumbayan (BPT) is managed by their employees’ cooperative and is intended essentially not for profit but for every employees health needs. She added that the BPT is open for sale to their concessionaires.
Almodovar said the project is a one-time grant of medicines worth P50,000.00 given by the Department of Health. As recipient of the goods, the organization is allowed a marked up of 30% for every item of medicine sold by the coop. And they have to revolve the funds and replenish the goods from recommended manufacturers or distributors.
“The motivation and intention of this project is primarily for service and not for profit,” she stressed. “And this is clear to the cooperative.”
“Like water, it is much related to our objective of health and sanitation that is why we applied for the project,” she said.
The ISAWAD manager was confident that the BPT will be patronized because for one “it is supported by DOH, thereby assuring that the medicines sold were safe and of good quality.”
ISAWAD was recommended by the Civil Service Commission in Isabela to be the recipient of the project based on the organizations capacity and managerial successes that is crucial to the implementation of BPT in Isabela City.
Medicines available for sale at BPT-ISAWAD are varied ranging from those for maintenance of the blood and hypertension to vitamins for all ages.
Ma. Vic-vic Camaonay, BNB Program Coordinator of DOH 9 disclosed that the BPT is a variant of Botika ng Barangay which was intended for the far-flung barangays. The BPT’s creation, however, was the result of the Memorandum of Agreement entered into between the secretaries of DOH and CSC for the purpose of health for all Filipinos, “not necessarily they are poor but especially for the ‘manggagawa’ (civil servants).”She added that the grant was raised from P25,000.00 for botika sa barangay before to P50,000.00 for botika para sa taumbayan project today and that this amount is coursed through the CSC who in turn identifies government offices as recipients of the program.
For Zamboanga Peninsula, 15 institutions were allotted by the program and just one for Basilan. Camaongay explained that DOH-9 takes care only of the training, licensing and the package, while the CSC takes care of the selection process.
She said that twelve institutions attended the training-orientation for BPT and so far it is only ISAWAD, in the entire region, who have complied with the requirements and thereby granted the project.
She underscored further that the BPT is a way of raising awareness among civil servants and the public to patronize generics medicines as equally effective with those branded ones.
Maria Asuncion Tan of the Civil Service Commission-IX said that they took consideration of the number of employees of would be recipient-institution to benefit from the project. Initially, they have considered the DepEd in Isabela to be a potential recipient because of the vast number of employees. However, they are also considering the capacity of the organization to sustain the project.
She said that eventually they chose ISAWAD because of its organized employees cooperative and its track record of good management potentials and capacity to comply requirements. (RVC-PIA9 ZBST)