Bribery rampant in health services

Bribery rampant in health services

JAKARTA (JP): Collusion between practitioners and drug
producers is a serious problem in the health services, a health
ministry official said yesterday.

Iwan Darmansjah, the ministry's chairman of drug safety and
efficacy, said many drug producers are luring doctors with
profits from their prescription drug sales.

These drug producers go as far as offering a certain
percentage of their profits from the sale of drugs that the
doctor has prescribed.

According to Iwan, such bribery practices are well-known to
the public.

"It will become even more serious if the patient is given the
wrong drugs simply because the doctor is after a commission,"
Iwan, who is also head of the University of Indonesia's Clinical
Trial Center, said.

Iwan was addressing a four-day workshop titled Women's Health
and Consumers' Protection which opened on Monday and is organized
by the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI). It is being
attended by participants from 15 provinces.

Chairman of the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) Azrul
Azwar stressed that taking bribes is against the physician's
professional code of ethics.

"I agree with the idea that the bribery practices involving
medical practitioners and drug companies should be stopped,"
Azrul told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

However, he said he believes only a few doctors collude with
drug producers. "Most of the corrupt doctors are those who are
very popular, have lots of patients," Azrul said.

According to IDI's data, there are about 34,000 medical
doctors throughout Indonesia.

Azrul rejected the notion that such bribery disadvantages
patients.

"Medically, bribery practices won't disadvantage patients
because doctors don't speculate with their patients' conditions,"
Azrul said. "Doctors prescribe medicines produced by certain
companies," he said.

Besides, medicines, which are offered by drug companies, are
patent drugs. "Doctors won't prescribe them unless they are
really necessary," Azrul said.

Yesterday, Iwan also warned people about misleading drug
advertisements in the mass media because the medical benefits of
the drugs are not as great as claimed.

According to Iwan, most drugs advertised on television, which
can be bought without a doctor's prescription, have never been
clinically tested for their quality.

As an example, he cited the advertisement of a drug claimed to
be capable of helping women who suffered from menstrual pain.

A YLKI survey on 186 respondents published last month showed
that 73.5 percent of the consumers said that TV ads helped them
choose medicines.

Furthermore, 52.9 percent of consumers were interested in drug
advertisements, while 81 percent agreed that the advertisements
are useful to consumers.

The survey also revealed that only 34.5 percent of consumers
considered drug advertisements as credible, while 44.3 percent
considered drug advertisements too bombastic. (31)