Nasty medicine facing 150 dodgy drugstores
A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government will bring 150 drugstore owners across the country to court for selling fake drugs and illegally selling medicines that require doctor's prescriptions, Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) chairman Sampurno said on Wednesday.
"We would urge the courts to impose heavy sentences on them as their crimes endangers many people's lives," Sampurno said in a conference on the outcome of BPOM raids against illegal drugstores on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2.
In the past, drugstore owners selling fake drugs or medicines without doctor's prescriptions received very lenient sentences, many of them getting the benefit of probation and only small fines being imposed.
Under Law No. 23/1992 on public health and Law No. 8/1999 on consumer protection, drugstore owners who are found guilty are liable to a maximum jail term of five years or a Rp 2 billion fine.
Sampurno revealed that the BPOM and police had conducted a series of raids over two days on illegal drugstores across the country on Oct. 1 and 2.
He said that 202 drugstores had been found to have violated their permits by selling prescription medicines, unregistered medicines and fake medicines.
After a thorough study of the cases, he said, only 150 pf the cases were sufficiently serious to be brought to court. Administrative sanctions would be imposed on the remaining 52 drugstore owners.
Among the 150 drugstores to be prosecuted, 27 are located in Surabaya, East Java; 13 in Jakarta; 12 in Palembang, South Sumatra; nine in Jambi; and eight in Medan, North Sumatra.
In Jakarta, drugstores located on Jl. Pramuka and at the Rawa Bening market in East Jakarta, the Glodok area of West Jakarta; and the Pasar Rumput market in South Jakarta were caught selling fake drugs and controlled drugs without prescriptions.
During the raids, officers seized 141 unregistered and imported medicines, including two containing codeine, which is still considered as narcotic under the Public Health Law.
The officers also seized faked medicines, including 250 milligram Ponstan tablets and 500 milligram Ponstan tablets in Palembang, and the antiallergenic drug Incidal in Bandung, West Java.
They also seized 815 samples of prescription medicines and 15 samples of psychotropic drugs from the stores.
Sampurno did not deny the possible involvement of international links, including major companies and distributors, in the illegal distribution of medicines in drugstores across the country.
"So far we just arrested the players on the ground. We hope we can find out how the masterminds are," he said, adding that the BPOM and police were thoroughly investigating the medicine distribution network.
He promised to revoke the licenses of any companies or distributors found illegally supplying medicines to illegal drugstores.