Govt to raise price of generic drugs by 15%
Govt to raise price of generic drugs by 15%
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Health Sujudi has said the
government would raise the price of generic drugs by as much as
15 percent after March.
The price hike, he said, was necessary because prices of
imported raw materials to make the drugs had continued to soar
due to the depreciating value of the rupiah against U.S. dollar.
Currently, the pharmaceutical industry still had to import 70
percent to 80 percent of its raw materials used to manufacture
quality drugs, he said.
"I will approve the raise and it will be taken step by step,"
said Sujudi during a fast breaking gathering with officials from
the Health Ministry and members of the House of Representatives
Commission VI at his residence Saturday.
Legislators in Commission VI are responsible for health and
social affairs.
Records from the health ministry show that the import of raw
materials has increased in value in the last two years. Last
year, it reached US$178.32 million, some $22 million higher than
in 1994.
The government introduced generic drugs in 1989 so customers
could purchase quality drugs at more affordable prices.
There are now reportedly 201 types of generic drugs on the
Indonesian market.
During the 1996/1997 fiscal year, the total value of the
drugs' distribution to stores and health centers throughout the
country reached Rp 378 billion ($63 million).
The annual per capita drug consumption in Indonesian was just
$6 last year, still considered low among Asian countries compared
to South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand.
Since 1993, the price of generic drugs has been relatively
stable, with the government subsidizing its distribution to
community health centers in villages throughout the country.
The drugs are manufactured by 54 out of the 225 pharmaceutical
companies operating in Indonesia. Forty-seven of the companies
producing the generic drugs are privately owned.
While maintaining that the government had no choice in raising
the price of generic drugs, Sujudi still made an appeal to
patent-owning medicine manufacturers not to raise prices.
He said many Indonesians were dependent on these drugs which
were not available in generic form.
"If they set a high price, nobody will be able to buy it. In
the ongoing monetary crisis, their markets have become slanted
since people prefer to buy generic drugs (with a more affordable
price)," he said.
Already there have been reports that patent medicine prices
have increased by two to three times in some parts of Indonesia
since August last year when the monetary crisis began.
In a separate development, an official in Bengkulu said a
pharmacy had been caught selling fake medicine.
Head of the Bengkulu heath office, Bachtiar Karatu, when asked
to comment on the report, remarked that it was very harmful since
patient trust in drug manufacturing companies would suffer.
Bachtiar said his office conducted routine investigations of
medicine dispensaries every six months in order to detect any
illegal sales of fake medicine. (09)