Government requests contraceptives on tick
Government requests contraceptives on tick
JAKARTA (JP): The National Family Planning Board (BKKBN) has
requested PT Schering Indonesia to advance 45 million sets of
contraception pills worth Rp 50 billion (US$6.7 million) and
defer payment until next week, company president Parulian
Simanjuntak said on Saturday.
Simanjuntak said, however, he was confident the agency would
pay its debt before then.
"We are sure that BKKBN will pay us in the near future," he
told reporters on the sidelines of the company's one-day free
clinic at its factory in Kramatjati, East Jakarta.
He said the company endorsed BKBBN's proposal for an advance
supply of the pills because the agency had an inadequate stock to
be distributed to government clinics nationwide.
Early this year, BKKBN asked the company to supply 45 million
sets of contraception pills to meet the country's demand. BKKBN
issued a promissory note stating the terms of payment.
Company director Sigfried J. Wagner told journalists that
BKKBN would pay the debt after it received a loan from the World
Bank.
"Our company will surely ask for the payment, we cannot give
the pills for free," Wagner said.
PT Schering Indonesia, a subsidiary of Schering AG of Germany,
has operated in Indonesia for 29 years. The company is known as
one of the biggest suppliers of oral contraceptives and implants
to BKKBN.
The company has upgraded its factory and operations in
Kramatjati and is now worth US$10 million. It will be inaugurated
next month.
With the factory renovated, the company is expected to produce
60 million sets of contraception pills each year. Fifty percent
of the production will be exported to several countries in Asia.
"With our new equipment, PT Schering Indonesia can meet the
international standard for exports," Wagner said.
He said Schering AG chose Indonesia as its production center
in Asia due to its worldwide competitive labor cost.
On Saturday, the company held a one-day free clinic, which
provided free contraception pills and a free implant
contraceptive service, in the vicinity of its Kramatjati factory.
One of the recipients, Eka, said she came to the event to get
more information about contraceptives.
"I have been in the family planning program for four years.
But I've never been informed about the benefits and weaknesses of
each method," she told The Jakarta Post.
Another recipient, Sumiati, said she now wanted to use implant
contraceptives after using pills for six years.
"I just want to try a new method, the implant contraceptive.
That's all," she said, when reporters asked her why she was
changing methods.
Nurse Roosmina from Raden Saleh Clinic in Central Jakarta,
however, suggested that every recipient should be aware of the
negative effects of each method.
"As a nurse, I have always checked with my clients whether
they know about the effects of contraceptives on the body," she
said. (04)