Govt to tighten control on donated medicines

Govt to tighten control on donated medicines

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi promised on Tuesday to
tighten controls of the distribution of subsidized and donated
medicine following a report by a watchdog group about the illegal
sales of medicine on the black market here.

He admitted that the ministry was "less than careful" about
it, according to the ministry's spokesman Budhi Yahmono, who
accompanied Sujudi during a meeting on Tuesday with the House of
Representatives' Commission VII, which deals with population and
welfare affairs.

"Some medicine in a pharmaceutical storage in Sukabumi, West
Java was stolen. That could be the (subsidized and donated)
medicines that are sold in some markets here," Budhi told The
Jakarta Post.

Sujudi suggested that perhaps there could have been some
medicine left in pharmaceutical storages that were taken by some
officers during the recent floods on the pretense of helping
flood victims.

On Monday, the Indonesian Health Consumers Empowerment
Foundation revealed its survey findings that half of the
subsidized and donated medicine for low-income people was
allegedly sold on the black market.

The foundation chairman, Dr. Marius Widjajarta, told the Post
that he alleged widespread collusion between officials from the
Ministry of Health, the City Health Agency, drug distributors,
producers and public health centers in the sale of those items.

During a meeting with the Foundation, Takashi Aoki and
Noriatsu Kono of the Japanese embassy said they would have to
oversee the distribution of any donations to Indonesia in the
future.

Each year since 1998 the Japanese government has donated 320
million yen (about US$2.7 million) worth of medicine. The
Ministry of Health was given the responsibility to distribute the
medicine, according to the officials.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the City Health Agency, Evy
Zelfino, told the Post that they did not know of any violations
of the medicine distribution by public health centers.

"We found no violations on the ground or of the monthly
reports," she said.

However, several community health centers across the city
charge their patients, mostly low-income ones, more than the
official fee of Rp 2,000 for both medicine and medical treatment
for each visit due to, they said, an "increase of the medicine
prices".

Yenni, 36, a patient at a community health center in Kampung
Melayu, East Jakarta said before 1997 the health center charged
Rp 2,000 for administration fees and medicine.

"I used to pay Rp 2,000 for both the medicine and
administration for each visit but then after 1997 I usually have
to pay Rp 10,000 for each," she told the Post.

Yenni and her family prefer to visit the health center when
they are sick as it charges a much lower fee than hospitals and
private doctors.

Another patient at a community health center in Cilandak area,
Utami, said she had to pay a Rp 3,000 administration fee and
between Rp 5,000 to Rp 15,000 for the medicine.

"It depends on the medicine. If you want brand-name medicine
from the doctor, you have to pay more," she said, saying that she
sometimes chose to buy brand-name medicine as she believes it was
of better quality than generic medicine.

Dr. Marius accused most health centers around the city of
violating the city bylaw No. 9/2000 on medical treatment in a
health center.

"The bylaw stipulates a patient in a health center is required
to pay Rp 2,000 for each visit. That is supposed to cover the
medical treatment and the medicine," he told the Post.