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.
The Indonesian Consumers Institute Foundation (YLKI) supports the idea of revoking the minister's regulation. "It is a counterproductive regulation issued during the era of former Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari. It recognizes the operations of community dispensaries," YLKI Chairman Tulus Abadi said in Jakarta on Thursday.
The aim of the minister's regulation is to enhance people's access to cheap and guaranteed medicines through community dispensaries. It also aims to put in order the circulation of illegal and fake medicines and provide opportunities to pharmacists to contribute their pharmaceutical services to the people.
YLKI has termed community pharmacies as incompetent dispensaries as they have no clear standards.
Most community pharmacies do not employ pharmacists as required by the minister's regulation. A dispensary is required to employ a pharmacist and assistant pharmacist. But many community dispensaries do not abide by the regulation.
The establishment of community dispensaries has created problems because they have served as a means for the circulation of illegal, counterfeit and expired medicines.
Based on data once released by the Drug and Food Supervision Agency (BPOM), during the 1999 to 2006 period, the number of fake medicine brands circulating in the country has reached 81, including drugs for hypertension, diabetes, antibiotics and headache.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also once released data stating that the amount of losses stemming from the circulation of fake medicines in Indonesia reached Rp3 trillion per annum, according to dhew240383.blogspot.co.id.
Therefore, YLKI has urged the government to lift the minister's decree on community dispensaries, because they become a source for the circulation of illegal medicines.
Previously, the Jakarta Police and BPOM had conducted a joint operation and found illegal and expired drugs on sale at the Pramuka Market and at the Kramat Jati Market in East Jakarta.
The police had seized 1,963 strips of expired drugs, 49 bottles of liquid medicines, 24 sacks of expired drugs of various brands and types, 122 strips of expired drugs from which the expiration dates had been removed, three bottles of nail polish remover and cotton buds.
The Pramuka Market is known among Jakarta's denizens as the go-to place for cheap medicine and medical equipment.
Legislator Partaonan Daulay Saleh, the vice chairman of Commission IX on Health Affairs at the House of Representatives (DPR), said on Wednesday that the minister's regulation needs to be evaluated.
"If a particular policy is detrimental to the public, it must be evaluated and, if considered dangerous, should be revoked," he said.
Daulay Saleh, who is a politician for the National Mandate Party (PAN), observed that revoking the minister's regulation should be considered since certain community pharmacies have been found to be selling fake and expired medicines. The issue has caused concern among the public.
"Even the law can be revised and replaced, let alone a health minister's regulation," he added.
The Food and Drug Supervision Agency (BPOM) has submitted a proposal to Commission IX regarding revoking the minister's decree on Community Dispensary. In addition, the BPOM also proposed that there should be a moratorium on issuing permits to set up such drugstores.
"In fact, seven community pharmacies at the Pramuka market in Jakarta have been closed," he informed.
The Jakarta Health Service has proposed to revoke the minister's regulation allowing the establishment of semi-dispensary drugstores because these were found committing many violations.
The Ministry of Health planned to eliminate community pharmacies in 2016 by either upgrading their status to a pharmacy or by downgrading them to the level of a drugstore.
Jakarta Police and the BPOM had, in joint operations, found illegal and expired drugs being sold at the Pramuka Market and the Kramat Jati Market in East Jakarta.
Police officers uncovered instances of sale of expired medicines. The owner of the 'Rahmat Community Pharmacy,' identified as N, was named as a suspect.
"Suspect N had been selling expired drugs since last year," disclosed the Director of Special Criminal Investigation of the Jakarta Police, Commissioner Fadil Imran, in Jakarta on Monday last week.
N was being assisted by three workers and had earned Rp10 million a month from the expired drug trade. According to the Head of Unit 2 of Sub-Industry and Trade of the City Police, Commissioner Wahyu Nugroho, N had been involved in the drug business at the Pramuka Market since 2006.
Wahyu commented that N learnt how to change the expiration date of any drug by using a thinner liquid on the packaging in 2015, and had been committing such malpractices since then.***4***(a014/INE)EDITED BY INE.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 15-09-2016 21:39 |
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