Dessy Sagita, The Jakarta Globe, January 13, 2009
The central government would slash the price of at least 21 generic drugs by an average of 19 percent and release a multimillion dollar state subsidy to keep drug and medicine prices stable this year despite global economic conditions, Heath Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said on Monday.
The minister did not name the generic drugs that would have their prices cut, but said the move was to ensure that more people could afford them.
“Poor people also have the right to decent health service,” she told a press conference.
The Ministry of Health has also earmarked Rp 280 billion ($25.5 million) from the state budget for the Subsidized Generic Medicine program, under which drugstores across the country would sell “fast-moving” drugs and medicines such as antibiotics, cold medicines and pain relievers at prices set by the government.
Life-saving drugs such as medications for heart and cancer patients would also be sold at cheaper, fixed prices, she said.
Siti Fadillah said provincial and district governments would only be able obtain subsidized drug supplies from the Ministry of Health, rather than directly from private distributors.
“I know there are many local officials who prefer to buy the most expensive kinds of medicines because they earn a commission from the seller, but there will no longer be such things,” she said.
Siti Fadillah said the subsidy aimed to stabilize prices irrespective of any fluctuations in the rupiah, which fell as much as 30 percent against the dollar last year. The government bought raw materials for drug production when the rupiah was at 9,400, so any decline this year should not affect prices, she said.
“The upcoming year will be unpredictable, but because we bought our raw materials all at once, hopefully the price will remain stable and there will be no supply interruption,” Siti Fadillah said.
She said the subsidy program also covered name-brand medicines as long as state-run and private pharmaceutical companies sold them no higher than three times the price of generic brands.
“There are so many companies selling name-brand medicines that are 10 times more expensive than the generic ones. Under the subsidy regulation, that will not happen,” she said. “They are allowed to buy our subsidized raw materials, but only if they promise to sell it according to our terms.”
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