Vitamins and mineral supplements are now included in the list of discounted medicines for senior citizens, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire announced in a televised press briefing on Thursday.
“Good news for our senior citizens. Vitamins and mineral supplements can now be availed [of] at 20-percent discount as long as [seniors] have a prescription from doctors,” she said, quoting the Department of Health Administrative Order (AO) No. 2012-0007-A.
According to Vergeire, the AO is consistent with the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, which defines “medicines” to include “vitamins and mineral supplements,” and whose implementing rules and regulations grant discount and value-added tax exemptions to senior citizens.
The health official said the AO will take effect 30 days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.
Senior citizens have been seen as more vulnerable to the new coronavirus, mainly because of underlying ailments or preexisting conditions that have compromised their immunity.
Latest health statistics from the Health department show that there are a total of 2,499 or 25 percent of COVID-19 patients, who are aged 60 and above.
The data also indicate that 452 senior citizens, or 68 percent, had succumbed to the severe respiratory disease.
Vitamins are seen to boost immunity and could help seniors improve their resistance to the virus, according to medical experts.