Monopoly of Chinese drug trade opposed
Monopoly of Chinese drug trade opposed
By K. Basrie
JAKARTA (JP): Local merchants of Chinese traditional medicines
have declared their opposition to a private firm's control over
the importation of the popular medicines through a state-
sponsored compulsory labeling system.
In an interview with The Jakarta Post yesterday, the merchants
said they feared that PD Arvesco, controlled by politically well-
connected businessmen Ari Sigit Soeharto and Yufandy Sujudi,
would only want to collect huge profits by setting high prices
for the Chinese medicines.
"It's a monopoly business, which will mean that people on low
incomes will be unable to buy the medicines because of the high
prices," said Gouw Tjong Liat, owner of the Dunia Baru drug store
in downtown Kota, West Jakarta, which is home to dozens of
Chinese medicine stores.
Other traders, who asked not to be identified, urged the
government to review the existence of the labeling firm.
"We strongly protest against the business activities of the
firm," said one of them.
"People can wait to buy cement if there is a sudden increase
in its prices," another merchant said, "but, can you imagine what
will happen if they are forced to wait to get a medicine just
because they do not have enough money."
Gouw added: "I think there are still many promising business
sectors available in this country which the firm could get
involved in without having to disturb this small but humanitarian
business."
Ida Binyanti, a director of PD Arvesco, told the Post by phone
yesterday that the main aim of the firm was to strictly control
the quality of the China-made medicines and the substances they
contain.
"We're not a monopoly but the only authorized supplier for
traditional medicines in this country as stipulated in an
instruction letter issued by the ministry of health," she said.
The company, she said, had the right to collect medicines in
the markets which have not been registered and are not tagged
with official labels issued by the Ministry of Health.
Later, the medicines would be examined at the laboratory of
the Ministry of Health, she said. Medicines which failed to meet
the government standards would not be allowed to be sold at the
legal markets here, while those passing the test would be
labeled.
Arvesco will set the prices on the basis of a recommendation
from the provincial health offices which have recently conducted
a study on the matter, she said.
The firm is also appointed as the only authorized supplier of
any imported traditional medicines.
Due to its position, many traders as well as importers of the
China-made medicines are worried that the prices will be raised
by the firm.
Traders said that even at the current prices many consumers
were unable to buy the medicines.
"It's baseless to accuse us of collecting as much in profits
possible," Ida said.
"We set the prices at only about 30 to 40 percent above than
the import rate," she said.
But traders claimed yesterday that prices of some of the
medicines which had "passed" Arvesco were twice the previous
rate.
"Our main mission is to control the quality of medicines from
China being sold here, in cooperation with the Ministry of
Health," Ida said.
She said that a huge number of large and small-scale medicine
factories had been set up in China over the past few years and
this trend was a cause of concern to consuming countries like
Indonesia. Consuming countries were concerned about the quality
and the contents of the medicines, she said.
Worse of all, she said, many local traders and importers in
Indonesia did not care about consumers' rights and the medicines'
quality "as long as they can make a quick profit."
Imports of Chinese medicines have risen rapidly over the past
few years, following the normalization of diplomatic ties between
China and Indonesia in 1990.
A series of exhibitions of medicines and other export items
from China have been held here since then.
Most of the medicines sold here are still labeled in Chinese
and the labels do not include expiry date information.
Ida said that a number of fake medicines, which are difficult
to identify, had been found on the local market.
"At the present time, there are too many medicines on the
market here being claimed by the sellers to have come from
China," Ida said.
Unfortunately, she said, only a few consumers can distinguish
between the real medicines and the imitations.
Consumers were generally only able to discover that a medicine
was fake after they had consumed it, she said.
"That's why we're here: to look after consumers' interests,"
she said.
Trader Gouw said: "Consumers have nothing to worry regarding
our merchandise, because we all have direct contact with the
producers of the medicines."