List of banned slimming or antiobesity products in the Philippines

Hokkaido Slimming Pills

Anti-obesity or slimming products are rampantly sold in the Philippine market, especially in online stores which are highly accessible to the public.  Apart from the convenience that consumers get when they purchase online, the considerably cheaper prices of these products lure customers.  Furthermore, some online sellers can easily deceive the public by using fake advertising, to an extent of using celebrities and famous personalities without their consent, or post bogus testimonials from alleged successful users. Women, who are the main targets of these products, are especially vulnerable.

Some of these products may pose health risks to consumers as they may contain amphetamine, sibutramine and steroids.  The Food and Drug Administration or FDA has monitored several of these slimming or antiobesity products being sold online and marketed as oral capsules or as coffee drinks.  The FDA has already recalled and banned at least 26 of these products from 2010 to 2012.

Some of the FDA-banned products are

• Ballet Dancer Fat Reducing
• Bio-Lissom Fat Reducing
• Brazilian Slimming Coffee
• Cell Life Slimming Coffee
• Elegant Shape Fat Reducing
• Goodliness Fat Reducing
• Happyslim
• Leisure 18 Slimming Coffee
• Lightness Fat Reducing
• Maggie Fitness Essence
• Mei Shen Ting Anti-Obesity
• Modeling Fat-Reducing
• New Original Lightness Fat-Reducing
• Pearl White Slimming
• Perfect Figure Slimming
• Perfect Slim Fat Reduction Cosmetic
• Perfect Slim Purely Natural Fat Reduction Cosmetic
• Pill for Weight Reduction
• Pretty Model
• Qiaomei Fat Binder
• Qi Xian Nu
• Seven Days Miracle
• Shaping Body Fat Loss
• Slim and Beauty Slimming
• Slim Up Extra Whitening and Reducing
• Xianzimei Fat Reduction
• Hokkaido Slimming Pills 

Amphetamine, a potent central nervous stimulant and is the parent compound of metamphetamine (street name: Shabu), causes irregular heartbeat, confusion, urine retention and painful urination, hyperthermia (elevated body temperature due to failed thermoregulation), hyperreflexia (overactive or overresponsive reflexes), muscle pain, severe agitation, rapid breathing, and tremor.  Large overdose, however, may produce symptoms such as psychosis, anuria (nonpassage of urine), cardiogenic shock, cerebral hemorrhage, circulatory collapse, extreme fever, pulmonary hypertension, renal failure, rapid muscle breakdown, serotonin syndrome, and stereotypy.  Fatal amphetamine poisoning usually involves convulsion and coma.

Sibutramine has been shown in a well-designed study to increase the risk of serious heart events, including non-fatal heart attack or non-fatal stroke and death, by 16% in a group of patient given sibutramine compared with another group given the placebo.  The study also showed that there was only a small difference in weight loss between the placebo group and the sibutramine group.

The FDA hereby advised the public to refrain from buying unregistered and banned health products online.

To ensure that a health product is legitimate, one can check if it is registered with the FDA.  Log in at the FDA webiste (wwww.fda.gov.ph) and type in the name of the product in the SEARCH bar.  To report any unregistered or banned health products, please email report@fda.gov.ph.

All consumers are advised to use only FDA-approved slimming pills or anti-obesity drugs under the supervision of doctors.

All FDA inspectors are hereby ordered to seize unregistered slimming products or those containing amphetamine, sibutramine and steroids from all outlets or establishments where they are found, sold or offered for sale or use.

All local government units and enforcement agencies are urged to close down outlets and establishments that sell banned or unregistered health products.  Likewise, the FDA appeals to the Bureau of Customs to prevent the entry of banned products in the Philippine market.

For more information or clarifications, kindly email  info@fda.gov.ph

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DOH alarm: HIV cases in first-half 2012 exceed full year of 2010

The number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases during the first half of the year has already surpassed the record for the whole 2010, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday, underscoring the alarming rise in incidence of the virus that causes the dread disease AIDS.

The bulk of the spike was traced to a rise in male-to-male transmission and the sharing of needles among injecting drug users in Cebu province.

DOH Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said for the month of June alone, 295 HIV cases were reported to the department, bringing to 1,600 the total number of cases in the first half of 2012.

“We are halfway now for the year and that’s already more than the 1,591 for the whole year of 2010,” Tayag told reporters. In 2011, HIV cases were 2,349.

This brings the total number of HIV cases in the country to 9,964 since 1984 when the DOH started reporting HIV/AIDS cases.

Men having sex with men make up 87 percent of HIV transmissions recorded in the first six months of the year, with men aged 20-29 making up most of the cases.

While MSM transmission has been the main mode of HIV transmission for a couple of years now, the DOH is particularly alarmed by a dramatic spike of cases involving injecting drug users (IDU) in Cebu City.

“What we’re alarmed about is that for June there were additional cases of injecting drug use or person who inject drugs,” Tayag said. HIV among drug users reached 120 during the first half of the year alone, he added. From 1984 to 2008, there were only 8 HIV cases among drug users.

“You will recall that in 2008 we only had 8 cases, now we have a total of 385 since 1984 when we started reporting HIV,” said Tayag, adding that all 120 HIV cases among IDUs this year were reported in Cebu City.

Tayag admitted that HIV monitoring among drug users in Cebu had stopped for awhile, discouraging people who were injecting drugs from submitting themselves for AIDS testing.

“In this period we stopped monitoring HIV among persons who inject drugs in that part of Cebu. For some time there was no fund so when we did a survey we saw that the number of HIV among drug users has increased,” he said.

Tayag said unlike other drug users in some parts of the country, injecting drug users in Cebu City use regulated medicines. The virus is spread as they share unclean and contaminated needles.

Tayag revealed that the government has started an HIV mapping, where parts of the country are labeled in terms of AIDS risk. Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao are tagged high risk.

Source: http://www.interaksyon.com/article/38724/doh-alarm-hiv-cases-in-first-half-2012-exceed-full-year-of-2010

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PhilHealth introduces Primary Care Benefits I (PCB 1) Package

Logo of PhilHealth (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in its aim to provide affordable and quality health benefits to every Filipino introduced their "Primary Care Benefit 1 (PCB11 Pack)."

What is included in the PCB11 Pack?

The health benefits package includes primary benefits such as consultations and regular blood pressure monitoring. Routine diagnostics are also covered such as complete blood count (CBC), urinalysis, sputum microscopy, blood sugar, lipid profile and chest x-ray. Medicines for common diseases like asthma and acute gastroenteritis or diarrhea, upper respiratory tract infection, pneumonia, and urinary tract infection (UTI) are also included in this package.

Who benefits from this package?

These new benefits will be initially available to members under the Sponsored Program (SP), Organized Groups (OG), and Overseas Workers Program (OWP) and to their qualified dependents, and, eventually, to all other members in the various categories.

To know more about PhilHealth benefits, visit their website http://www.philhealth.gov.ph.

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The New Anti-Rabies Law

Dogs straying around the streets are a common sight in the Philippines. Sadly, most of these are unvaccinated. This was the main reason why the dreaded effects of rabies in the Philippines could not be eliminated totally.

Good thing that the senate has approved of a law called the Anti-Rabies Act of 2007 also kn own as the Republic Act 9482 last May 25, 2008 authored by Sen. Pia Cayetano.

The components of the program are:

1. Mass vaccination of dogs
2. Establishing a central database for registered and vaccinated dogs.
3. Impounding of stray dogs
4. Field control and disposition of unregistered stray, and unvaccinated dogs
5. Information and educational campaigns to prevent and control rabies
6. Pre-exposure treatment for high-risk people and post-exposure treatment for the animal-bite victims
7. Free routine immunization of schoolchildren who are aged 5-14 in places with significant incidence of rabies
8. Encouraging responsible pet ownership
9. Prescribing penalties for violation of the law
   

The penalties for violation of the law are:

1. P2,000 for failing or refusing to have their dog registered and immunized against rabies. If the dog bites someone, the owner will pay for the vaccination of the dog and the person bitten.
2. P10,000 for refusing to place their dog under observation after it has bitten a person
3. P25,000 for refusing to have their dog observed and for not shouldering the medical expenses of the bitten person
4. P500 for refusing to put their dogs on a leash.
   

We just hope that this law could be implemented strictly.

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What does the HOUSE BILL NO. 1344 contain?

House Bill No. 1344 mandates all public and private schools to require their students in the elementary, secondary and tertiary levels to undergo a yearly drug test as a prerequisite for enrollment and providing penalties for violations of the said law. The test shall be undertaken under the supervision of the Department of Health.

Refusal to undergo a drug test without a justifiable cause will not be admitted to the school until he complies with the requirement under this Act.

This house bill has been approved and said to take effect upon its approval.

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Php 100M for Philippine General Hospital

President Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the a P100 million budget for the modernization of Philippine General Hospital (PGH). Half of the amount (P50 million) will be from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and the other half from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. or PAGCOR.

PGH will start receiving P50 million annually from PAGCOR next year until Arroyo's term ends (on the year 2010).

The funds are being released for the hospital’s centennial anniversary which is celebrated this month. PGH was given P100 million last year for its rehabilitation program. The amount was used to acquire more medical equipment, expand hospital rooms and put up more mobile health vans.

Similar funds will also be provided to other public hospitals. Aside from modernizing public hospitals, government is also augmenting the PhilHealth insurance coverage targeting about four million indigents this year, and pushing for the passage of the cheaper medicines bill.

This is good news especially that the budget for health has been neglected these past years, allotting more on the Philippine Army. At least, it is an improvement.

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Are we running out of hospitals, too?

It seems that the health care crisis continues to be a problem in the Philippines. We have been running out of health manpower as nurses and doctors go abroad. It seems that we have another thing to be afraid of - the Philippines is also running out of hospitals!.

The Philippine Medical Association (PMA), based on a survey, reported that the number of hospitals, both private and public, in the country has dropped by 55 percent in the last 20 years - from a total of 2,000 in 1987 to only 890 at present.

Further, the new government policy that prevents private hospitals from "detaining" patients until they settle their hospitalization bills will worsen the situation. It may lead to bankruptcy of more hospitals which may lead to a more deteriorating health care system.

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Cheaper Medicine Bill Gained Support from Lawmakers

A bill aiming for a lowered price of medicines in the country has gained support among lawmakers in the House of Representatives.

At least 170 congressmen—enough to pass the bill—have thrown their support behind the measure, according to Iloilo Representative Ferjenel Biron, one of the chief proponents of the cheaper medicines bill, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports.

Passing of the bill has unified the stand of lawmakers from both administration and opposition groups.

The House Bill No. 1, a resurrected version of the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2007, which failed to pass on third reading in the 13th Congress because of a lack of a quorum was authored by Iloilo Representative Ferjenel Biron. Accordingly, with the support gained from the congressmen, there is no reason that this bill won't be passed this time.

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