CLOSURE OF DRUGSTORES TO BENEFIT BIG BUSINESS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 16 (Antara) - The medicine trade at Jakarta's Pramuka Market, a hub of semi-dispensary drugstores called Apotik Rakyat or Community Dispensaries, can reach a turnover of up to one billion rupiah per day.          Apart from this, community dispensaries also function in other shopping centers, such as in Jatinegara, Glodok and Pasar Baru markets. Pramuka Market is the most popular place to buy cheap medicines.          The Jakarta Office of the Food and Drug Supervision (BPOM) had last year estimated that the turnover of community dispensaries at Pramuka Market could reach Rp1 billion per day. "There about 100 medicine traders there. If each trader has a daily turnover of Rp10 million, the daily turnover of the community dispensaries reaches some Rp1 billion," Dewi Prawitsasri, the head of the BPOM for Jakarta, was quoted as saying in October last year by the Jawa Pos online  (http://www2.jawapos.com).          The Pramuka Market has served as the hub of community dispensaries in Jakarta for about ten years now and the people know they can buy medicines at cheaper rates there.          Almost all kinds of medicines can be bought in the market, beginning from generic drugs for flu to heart medications at low prices.

GOVT TO ABOLISH COMMUNITY DISPENSARIES

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 15 (Antara) - Following the discovery of fake and expired medicines, the government is planning to abolish community dispensaries that have been blamed for circulating illegal drugs in public.         Community dispensaries, which are how semi-dispensary drugstores are referred to in common parlance, are stores for the people to buy cheap medicines. They are run under the Health Minister's Decree No.284/2007.         The plan to abolish them has been made to protect people from the harmful effects of fake or expired medicines found on sale at community pharmacies. Police and drug control agencies recently discovered counterfeit and expired medicines on sale at the Pramuka Market, a hub for cheap drugstores in Jakarta.         The Jakarta Health Service has proposed the revocation of a health minister's regulation, which has becomes the basis for the establishment of community pharmacies.         According to Kompas.com, the Director General of Pharmacy and Health Equipment of the Ministry of Health, Maura Linda Sitanggang said the government has planned the establishment of community dispensaries.