Govt calls off drug 'self-dispensing' policy

Govt calls off drug 'self-dispensing' policy

JAKARTA (JP): Pharmacists welcomed yesterday the government's
decision to call off its plan to allow general practitioners to
dispense generic drugs directly to patients.

The plan, first announced last week, sparked strong opposition
from distributors whose role would be severely reduced in
Indonesia's complex drug distribution network.

While the Indonesian Medical Association welcomed the policy,
individual doctors expressed objections saying that their main
job was to prescribe medicines, not sell and stockpile them.

Ahaditomo of the Association of Indonesian Pharmaceutical
Graduates (ISFI) -- not of the Association of the Indonesian
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers as earlier reported -- said the
latest government decision met with the association's
expectations.

"Now, pharmacists will be challenged to perform their role
better than ever," Ahaditomo, deputy chairman of the pharmacists
association, said.

Minister of Health Farid Anfasa Moeloek canceled the policy
before it even began Monday, and set up a committee to find ways
of reducing drug prices, which have soared with the plunging
value of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar.

The committee, according to Kompas, comprises representatives
from the medical and pharmaceutical professions.

The "self-dispensing" policy was intended to cut the drug
distribution network in order to bring down prices of both
patented and generic drugs.

Prices have soared as much as 70 percent for patented drugs
and 55 percent for generic drugs, which account for about 80
percent of prescribed medications.

Ahaditomo, marketing director of PT Meiji Indonesian
Pharmaceutical Industries, said there were other ways of bringing
down drug prices.

The government, for example, could use "persuasion, motivation
and facilitation" to encourage drug manufacturers and
distributors to be more efficient.

"Manufacturers must maximize efficiency in production,
especially for the most consumed drugs, either patented or
generic.

"And distributors have to be more efficient," he said, noting
that some of them were currently poorly managed.

He also proposed the use of "rewards and punishments" by the
government in guiding the pharmaceutical industry. (aan)