50% of donated medicines sold illegaly: YPKKI

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Half of the subsidized and donated medicines for low-income people and flood victims have allegedly been sold in black markets across the capital.

The Indonesian Health Consumer Empowerment Foundation announced its findings from market surveys at Pramuka, Glodok, Blok M, Senen, Kramat Jati, Benhil and Rawa Bening, which are well-known as black markets for pharmaceutical products.

Foundation chairman Dr. Marius Widjajarta told a media conference on Monday that he suspected collusion between officials from the Ministry of Health, the City Health Agency, medicine distributors, producers and public health centers in the sale of these items.

"Actually, our findings are not that new. We began to conduct the surveys after realizing that illegal medicine sales had increased during the recent floods," he said, adding that the surveys had taken place several days after the three-week-long floods that hit Jakarta from Jan. 28.

Marius suspected that the officials had stored the medicines instead of distributing them to the needy, especially flood victims.

"Most the medicines have an expiry date in May or June as they were produced four years ago."

Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi has promised to take stern action against officers found guilty of selling the medicines and has asked regency health offices to increase monitoring of the distribution process.

The call has yet to be responded to.

The foundation revealed there were 23 types of subsidized and six types of donated medicine from Japan and the Philippines on the market.

At the conference, several cartons of antibiotics, on which were written "not for sale", "Japan donation" and some strips of contraceptive pills labeled "obat PKD" ("subsidized medicines available only in public health centers"), were on display.

Marius said patients had been unable to get Microgynon contraceptive pills at city health centers but could easily find them on the black market.

"It has affected low-income patients. They have to pay Rp 6,000 (58.8 US cents) to Rp 10,000 for both medicine and medical treatment from a health center, instead of the official fee of Rp 2,000."

Several vendors in Pramuka market admitted they had obtained drugs from officers of the health centers and hospitals, rather than from agents or pharmaceutical company representatives.

"They deliver antibiotics, vitamins and contraceptive pills once every three months. They say they're surplus products," said Ana, refusing to reveal the identity of the officers.

Pramuka market is a favorite place for wholesale traders rather than individual customers as it always offers cheaper prices.

A drug store sells a 500-milligram bottle of the antibiotic Sulfadimidin, containing 1,000 tablets, for only Rp 25,000. At a lawful pharmacy, the price is Rp 100,000 per bottle.

Marius also urged the ministry to increase its control over distributors of subsidized and donated medicines as well as to give transparent information on the stocks of medicines held to stop the illegal trade.

"The ministry has never announced the amount of buffer stock -- it should have kept the public informed about this," he said.

As of this year, the ministry has allocated Rp 130 billion to subsidize medicines at health centers for low-income residents.

Marius also called on donor countries to make clear how much medicine they were distributing.

"Please, give us transparent information on the distribution of the medicines. We have heard rumors that some of the donated medicines are not actually part of a grant but a loan," he said.

An official from the Japan International Cooperation Agency refused to comment on the matter.

"We'll probably arrange a media conference on the issue," he said.