Medical body highlights misleading ads
Medical body highlights misleading ads
JAKARTA (JP): Health food and drink advertisements are largely
misleading because the medical benefits are not as great as they
bombastically claim, a consumer advocate said yesterday.
Azrul Azwar, chief of the Indonesian Medical Association said
food and drink makers are not qualified to claim their products
have certain medical effects because they do not employ medical
advisers to supervise the production process.
Azrul made the remarks after installing new executives at the
Indonesian Pharmaceutical Medical Association (PEDFI).
"Without explaining their production process and holding
clinical trials, the products can easily be advertised and are
readily available," he said.
He acknowledged that the Ministry of Health has tightened the
supervision of advertisements of pharmaceutical products, but
pointed out that the measures often ineffective.
Advisors
"If the companies that produced health foods and drinks had
medical advisors, I'm sure they (advisors) wouldn't agree to
those kinds of advertisements," Azrul said.
PEDFI's new chairman Johannes Hudyono added that the companies
should consider medical advisors as important as marketing
managers.
"Medical advisors would improve companies' credibility in the
long term. In addition, they also help protect the consumers,"
Johannes said.
He explained that most of the medical advisors employed by
pharmaceutical companies do not have adequate technical
knowledge.
"These companies hire newly graduated doctors, who have no
pharmaceutical background, to make the companies look good,
without actually adding much authority to the products," Johannes
said.
Of the 280 pharmaceutical companies in the country, only about
70 employ medical advisors. Most of them are large-scale
pharmaceutical companies or foreign firms, according to Azrul.
Campaign
Azrul said that his association will embark on a campaign to
make the public aware of the need for medical advisors in
pharmaceutical, supplementary health food and drink companies.
"We will propose that the government should refuse to issue
permits to such companies unless they have medical advisors or a
department of pharmaceutical medicine," Azrul said.
In the future, he said, medical advisors would be a necessary
part of the labor force to make other countries accept Indonesian
pharmaceutical products. "In addition, medical advisors are also
necessary to develop new products," Azrul said.
He said that the association will seek to open a
pharmaceutical post-graduate course at the University of
Indonesia. (31)