Generic medicine price hike comes under fire

JAKARTA (JP): The government's decision to raise the price of generic medicine by an average of 20 percent has proven controversial, as many fear it will make medicine too expensive for the poor.

"I am afraid this decision will increase the mortality rate in the coming years, and will mostly affect people from in the lower economic classes," the chairman of the Indonesian Health Consumer Empowerment Foundation, Marius Widjajarta, said on Wednesday.

He said the decision could place at risk those people suffering from cancer and heart disease, as well as those suffering from diarrhea and lung diseases.

The government announced on Monday that starting on Wednesday the price of generic medicine would be increased by an average of 20 percent.

Before the price increase, generic drugs were about 40 percent to 80 percent less expensive than nongeneric drugs.

A lecturer at the medical school at the University of Indonesia, Adi Sasongko, said: "It is probably too extreme to say the mortality rate will increase, but I think the degree of seriousness of the conditions will be severer."

With the current weak purchasing power of the people, the poor are likely to use their money for staple foods and not to buy medicine, even generic drugs, he said.

Adi regretted that the decision was taken at a time when the country was mired in an economic crisis, which has been complicated by social problems.

"People tend to get sick easily now, so why increase the price of medicine now?" Adi asked.

The head of the Drug and Food Control Agency, Sampurno, contended the decision was taken because government could not afford to subsidize the ingredients imported by pharmaceutical companies.

The subsidy, which began in 1998/1999 when the economic crisis was at its peak, decreased from Rp 560 billion in 1998 to Rp 160 billion in 1999 and Rp 105 billion in 2000, he said.

This latest increase in the price of generic drugs follows an 15 percent increase in 1998.

Sampurno maintained that the government remained committed to providing affordable health care for the people. He pointed out that the generic drugs at community health centers in every district or subdistrict throughout the country were free.

In countries such as Singapore and the United States, generic drug sales account for up to 30 percent of total drug sales, while in Indonesia they make up only 8 percent, Sampurno said.

Chainar, a 70-year-old resident of Depok, on the outskirts of Jakarta, said that for minor illnesses like the flu she visited the nearby community health center, where she received free medicine.

But she still must visit the military-run Gatot Subroto Hospital once a month to receive a checkup for heart and eye problems.

"I still have to buy prescription drugs at the drugstore. I have to spend about Rp 100,000 a month just for medicine," she said.

Chainar said she hoped the price of generic drugs would not be raised so high that "retirees like me cannot afford them".

Several drugstores in Jakarta had not yet increased the price of their generic drugs on Wednesday.

"Maybe in one or two days," said an employee at a drugstore in South Jakarta.

There are over 100 pharmaceutical companies in the country, producing 262 different generic drugs. (emf)