Drug vendors show mixed feelings over raids<\/p>\n
By Emmy Fitri<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Pharmaceutical vendors were critical in
\nresponding to reports of investigations launched by Jakarta
\nPolice and the Food and Drugs Control Agency (BPOM) into the
\ndistribution of fake drugs in the busy Pramuka and Senen markets.<\/p>\n
\"Other operation? We have heard about too many operations. If
\nwe really sell fake medicines, they should have closed our
\nbusinesses long ago, but we are still running our shops,\" Liana,
\nwho owns the Mei drug store on the first floor of the Pramuka
\nmarket, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Liana said cheaper prices probably caused people to keep
\nreturning to the market even if the medicines were fake.<\/p>\n
\"It's the buyers who name the prescriptions and pay the price.
\nWe don't offer them one brand or another,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The customers of pharmaceuticals sold in Pasar Pramuka are
\nmostly wholesale traders who then sell the drugs in other
\nlocations.<\/p>\n
The distribution of fake medicines has raised concerns in the
\ncapital. A well known weekly magazine recently alleged that one
\nin three medicines distributed to the public was fake.<\/p>\n
Other vendors said that they did not intend to sell fake drugs
\nbut they did not know which of them were fake or not. They said
\nthat they usually obtained the drugs from agents or sales
\nrepresentatives working for the many pharmaceutical companies.<\/p>\n
\"We know that it is unlawful to sell fake products. Why should
\nwe jeopardize our earnings by doing so,\" Rahman, one of the
\ntraders in Pramuka market, East Jakarta, told The Post.<\/p>\n
He added that, if police and BPOM had the equipment to examine
\nwhether the drugs were fake or not, they should investigate the
\nmanufacturers and not the traders who just sold the products and
\nwere not equipped to detect fake medicines.<\/p>\n
\"If I had the equipment to check whether or not the medicines
\nare fake, I would gladly do that before selling them to the
\npublic,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Rahman, who opened his business three years ago, sells various
\ndrugs, including antibiotics and contraceptive pills.<\/p>\n
\"The contraceptive pills I sell are surplus products not used
\nby puskesmas (public health clinics) in several villages in
\nSukabumi, West Java,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The 53-year-old vendor said he received other drugs from
\npharmaceutical company representatives.<\/p>\n
\"Almost all of the traders here take the drugs from those
\npeople,\" he said.<\/p>\n
His colleague said she heard about the operation to crack down
\non fake medicines and believed that the effort would disappear as
\ntime went by.<\/p>\n
Another vendor in Senen market, who did not wish to be named,
\nalso played down the planned campaign, saying, \"the police know
\nwhat we sell, they often come here but do nothing.\"<\/p>\n
He also said that several military personnel and police
\nofficers were sometimes asked to accompany the drug suppliers
\nwhen transporting the medicines from outside Jakarta to the
\nmarket.<\/p>\n
\"It's true, the suppliers bring the medicines on trucks and
\nthey need escorts like private security guards. They pay military
\npersonnel and police for their services,\" he said, adding that
\ntraders also often use them for guarding their shops.<\/p>\n
\"Mine is just a stall. There is no need to be guarded, but I
\nhave a lot of friends in the military who are always ready to
\nhelp, even if I get detained by the police or trantib (the
\nmunicipality's civilian security guards),\" he said confidently.<\/p>\n
Rahman, who owns a kiosk in Pramuka market, also acknowledged
\nthat he paid military personnel to, \"guard my kiosk at night and
\nhelp me deal with police.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/drug-vendors-show-mixed-feelings-over-raids-1447893297",
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