Corrupt pharmacy

A doctor prescribed me some drugs (tablets & inhaler) on Oct. 12 and advised me to take them at least once a day for quick relief from my terrible asthma. The in-house pharmacist recommended that I buy the drugs from the Mitra dispensary, on Jl. Jend. A. Yani, Bekasi, as they were scarcely available. The total was said to be Rp 432,500 plus three percent for service charges (Rp 12,975), with a total amounting to Rp 445,475 (by the cashier in the dispensary).

Since I was not carrying that much cash, I decided to buy the drugs later in the evening (same day). So that evening I drove with my servant to the dispensary and asked the servant to go in to buy the medicine while I waited in my car. But to my horror, I was charged an astounding Rp 490,000 (an extra 10 percent, in matter of five hours). I walked into the dispensary and inquired as to how the price had changed so much, but there was a lot of difficulty in the explanation of the price. The lady (same cashier) could not answer my queries and my patience was wearing thin so I left and took the medicine without any explanation about the 5-hour 10 percent inflation of the price.

I have never experienced this type of insidious way of making money by professionals (read pharmacists) whose motto otherwise should have been "live by let living".

M. SAMEER

Jakarta