People turning to traditional medicines

JAKARTA (JP): Soaring drug prices have made many people turn to traditional medicines.

The surge in demand for alternative medicines has tempted unscrupulous businesspeople to import unregistered and well-known brandnames illegally.

Officials from the Ministry of Health have reported an influx of illegally imported Chinese traditional medicines. They filed a report with the Director General of Customs and Excise last month but there has been no response.

"We had hoped they would take immediate action upon receiving our report," the ministry's Director General of Food and Drug Control Sampurno told journalists on Monday.

In the report, he said, at least 11 unregistered brands of imported traditional medicines are listed. Routine monitoring also uncovered many unregistered food items and food supplements for sale in several markets.

"Consumers need protection and legal certainty. If the products are unregistered, consumers have no way to file a complaint if something goes wrong because the producers are not known," Sampurno said.

He added that illegal importation of traditional medicines also caused the government to suffer a considerable loss in tax revenue.

Since normalization of diplomatic ties between China and Indonesia in 1990, there have been numerous exhibitions here promoting Chinese medicines and other export items and imports have risen steadily.

Most of the medicines sold here retain their Chinese labeling and carry no expiry dates.

Health Law No. 23/1992 stipulates that anyone producing or distributing substandard traditional pharmaceutical products are subject to a maximum of five years in prison or a Rp 100 million fine. The punishment will be raised by one-fourth if the violation caused serious illness, or one-third if it resulted in death.

Sampurno said his office had received complaints from consumers regarding imported traditional medicines; some related to misleading claims and expensive prices.

Unfortunately, he said, some of the unregistered drugs have even been advertised in the mass media. "We urge the media not to advertise unregistered products," Sampurno said.

He also urged consumers for their own good not to consume illegal traditional medicines.

"The most important thing is, consumers should not consume illegal medicines. If something happens to them, they can't do much about it," Sampurno said.

Supermarkets should cooperate by not selling unregistered products because the Law on Consumer Protection will be enforced beginning April 20 and they can be held responsible, he warned. (ste)