Bird flu pills to reach drug stores

Bird flu pills to reach drug stores

JAKARTA: People will soon have better access to influenza
medicine Tamiflu, with the Food and Drugs Control Agency
approving its distribution in late September.

Agency deputy for therapeutic and hazardous substances Lucky
Slamet said on Tuesday that only patients that had initially
tested positive with the bird flu virus and who had doctors
prescriptions could buy the medicine.

"Without control from doctors, patients could suffer negative
side-effects. Many patients in China and Vietnam, where the
medicines have been widely used to contain the bird flu outbreak,
have suffered these ill effects because of over-consumption of
the drug," he said.

The government was trying to make it easier for those
suspected of having bird flu to get immediate medical treatment,
he said.

Indonesia currently has 25,000 boxes of Tamiflu, or 250,000
doses of medicine, Lucky said. -- JP