The Philippine Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association (PHAP) on Tuesday cautioned that pharmaceutical companies will reduce their labor force as a result of potential loss of competitiveness due to the high retail price recently levied on certain medicines. PHAP’s opposition to price control has been consistent since global experience showed that artificial measures lead to market inefficiencies and lack of supply …

A hospital director at the epicentre of China’s virus epidemic died Tuesday, state media said, the latest medical worker to fall victim to the new coronavirus spreading across the country. Liu Zhiming, the director of Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan, died Tuesday morning after “all-out rescue efforts failed,” state broadcaster CCTV reported. China said last week that six medical workers had …

Public health authorities on Monday raised measures against Covid-19 to level 3, in preparation for a surge in transmissions. Level 3 means medical staff have to undergo screening for the virus. Within the next two months, every province will have at least one hospital capable of testing for Covid-19. The Department of Medical Sciences is also developing a coronavirus test …

When Cambodia’s prime minister greeted passengers on a cruise ship amid a coronavirus scare on Valentine’s Day, embraces were the order of the day. Protective masks were not. Not only did Prime Minister Hun Sen not wear one, assured that the ship was virus-free, his bodyguards ordered people who had donned masks to take them off. The next day, the …

The army has struck a deal with the Finance Ministry’s Treasury Department on the management of its commercial welfare projects and its commercial use of state land to ensure transparency and regulation compliance. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on Monday will pave the way for the transfer of state land and commercial businesses to the Finance Ministry and allow most …

More than 300,000 Chevrolet cars in Thailand risk losing maintenance services after the US car maker General Motors (GM) announced a halt in sales of the Chevrolet brand locally by 2020. GM is selling manufacturing facilities in Rayong under a purchase agreement with Chinese car maker Great Wall Motors. Both parties want to close the deal and hand over the …

The shocking nuclear radiation in the Batan Indah Housing, Serpong, South Tangerang came from radioactive flakes containing the element cesium 137 (Cs 137). The emergence of radioactive debris in the Batan Indah Serpong Housing area was confirmed by the Head of the National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN), Anhar Riza Antariksawan not from leakage of nuclear reactors at the Center for …

The Minister of Administrative Reform and Bureaucracy Reform (Menpan RB) Tjahjo Kumolo proposed that a State Civil Service (ASN) who would retire receive Rp 1 billion in cash. He said he had talked in detail related to this with the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani. Tjahjo said, the increase in pension for ASN was included in the bureaucratic reform section. …

Investors and foreign interests in political parties are considered more dangerous than fears of dynasties and political oligarchy. In fact, for the sake of wanting to establish its influence, investors are willing to spend up to Rp 1 trillion. This was conveyed by MPR Chair Bambang Soesatyo during the launch of the Nagara Institute, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday (17/2). Furthermore, Bambang …

KUALA LUMPUR – The RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project by Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd had been set without consulting the Government Procurement Division, says Treasury deputy secretary-general Datuk Othman Semail. Othman said that this is the first project that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had personally ordered a letter of award (LOA) without the proper procedure being followed. …