The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Roche Pharmaceuticals and Manzil Healthcare Services to provide medications for low-income patients with cancer and multiple sclerosis (MS) whose insurance is not covering such treatment and also for non-insured patients.
The agreement comes pursuant to the “Patient Support” initiative launched by MoHAP the last year and aims to enhance the meanings of empathy, compassion, and human values in the society.
The MoU was signed in MoHAP headquarters by HE Dr. Amin Hussein Al Amiri, the Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Policies and Licensing at the ministry, Dr. Mohamed El-Shaarawy, General Manager, Roche Pharmaceutical UAE, and Dr. Saarber Tanley, Manzil Healthcare Services.
Alleviate Patients’ Suffering
Dr. Ruqaya Al Bastaki, Director of MoHAP’s Drug Department, said that the agreement is part of MoHAP’s keenness on improving services provided to patients and securing their access to high-quality and comprehensive medicines to mitigate their suffering, noting that initiative will help provide medicines for eligible patients with cancer and MS in a short time.
“Through this agreement, we aim to improve patients’ commitment to the prescribed treatment and enable them to follow up on their treatment schedule,” she explained.
Under this agreement, Roche Pharmaceuticals will provide 8 innovative cancer and MS drugs for about 100 patients in a year.
“As for the agreement mechanism, the eligible patients must speak to their doctors, who will refer them to Manzil Healthcare Services for assessment purposes, which will then communicate with Roche Pharmaceuticals and charities to ensure patient’s access to the prescribed treatment. Following the patient’s written consent, Manzil Healthcare Services ensures the patient’s data confidentiality and not to be shared except with charities concerned and MoHAP.
Who Are Eligible for this Agreement?
While praising MoHAP’s efforts in facilitating patient’s access to medicines, Dr. Mohamed El-Shaarawy, explained that eligible patients are those with low-income, or non-insured, or whose insurance is not covering their treatment. In the meantime, patients must be referred by a specialized doctor in the treatment of cancer and MS inside the UAE. This comes as part of Roche’s commitment to social responsibility.
Program Partners
The agreement outlines the responsibilities of Manzil Healthcare Services in terms of the coordination with charities, program partners including licensed doctors, pharmacies, and distributors of the medication covered by this agreement to ensure its smooth implementation and manage the program process for eligible patients. After evaluating the financial and social case of each patient, the company shall periodically communicate with those who are entitled to ensure their easy access to the prescribed treatment.