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)