Price of selected medicines to be cut

JAKARTA (JP): The government is set to lower prices of various generic drugs by 10 percent this week in consideration of the public's declining purchasing power.

H. Sampurno, the director general for the supervision of drugs and food, was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday that Minister of Health F.A. Moeloek had approved the plan.

The reduction is the third phase of the government's campaign to make available medicines at affordable prices, he added.

Drug prices soared shortly after the economic crisis hit Indonesia last July. The rupiah has plummeted in value against the U.S. dollar.

The government initially reduced soaring prices of generic medicines by 34.35 percent in February. The second reduction, by 18 percent, occurred in April.

In the same month, Moeloek -- speaking as health minister in the Cabinet of former president Soeharto -- promised to do anything within his means to ensure a steady supply of medicine, particularly generic drugs, for one year.

He cited the government's allocation of a US$116 million subsidy to the country's pharmaceutical companies for the import of raw materials for drugs.

The Japanese government has also extended a grant for medicines and medical supplies worth Rp 80 billion to ensure their availability in Indonesian hospitals, he added.

Antara quoted Omar Hamid of the Front Action for Reform in Health Affairs as saying yesterday that the price reduction often did not apply in the market.

"In the first reduction, in reality the prices of generic drugs in the market only declined by 12 percent. In the second reduction, prices in the market went down by only 5 percent," he said.

The health ministry has opened a hotline for complaints on food and drugs at (021) 426334 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. (swe)