Health Ministry assures medicine prices will remain within reasonable limits

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) has assured that potential increases in medicine prices resulting from fluctuations in the rupiah’s exchange rate against the US dollar and rising oil prices will remain within reasonable limits and not spike sharply.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin added that the prices of medicines for the National Health Insurance (JKN) programme are guaranteed not to rise and will be maintained.

“We have already looked at which medicine prices have risen reasonably and which have not. But for BPJS medicines, we have managed to keep them stable,” he said in a statement received in Jakarta on Saturday.

He explained that the increase in the dollar exchange rate does not automatically cause medicine prices to rise by the same percentage. This is because most of the production cost components for domestic medicines are still denominated in rupiah.

Therefore, the government has calculated the limit for a reasonable price increase. An increase in the range of 10 to 20 per cent is still considered acceptable, while anything above that figure is deemed an attempt to take unilateral profit.

“Ten to 20 per cent is still reasonable. But if it is above that, do not take advantage of the situation,” he said.

Similarly, Director General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices at the Ministry of Health, Lucia Rizka Andalusia, stated that her office has coordinated with the pharmaceutical industry regarding these price calculations. Rizka confirmed that the highest price adjustment is capped at 20 per cent.

“The maximum is 20 per cent. It depends on the type of medicine; some only increase by 5 per cent or 10 per cent. But it cannot be more than 20 per cent,” Rizka clarified.

Amid the adjustment of commercial or non-BPJS medicine prices, the government guarantees that the prices of medicines included in the National Health Insurance (JKN) scheme will not be affected.