The Chairman of Indonesia's Doctors
Association (IDI), Daeng Mohammad Faqih, has said that one of the ways through
which Indonesia could stem the proliferation and trade of counterfeit drugs is
by strengthening the existing monitoring and enforcement mechanism, and called
for the Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM) to tighten up its' monitoring
over the importation of drugs and its' precursors. "There needs to be more
stringent monitoring at the downstream level," he said in Jakarta on Saturday,
September 10, 2016.
According to Faqih, there are currently no
concrete laws and/or regulations that sets out the ways through which drugs and
its' precursors could be distributed - which means that anyone could acquire
precursor ingredients in a relatively easy manner. Faqih used the case of drug
counterfeiting operation that were recently uncovered, and said that the case
could be examined and used as an 'entry-point' to stem the manufacturing,
distribution and trade of counterfeit medications.
The IDI Chairman also said that BPOM needs to
be more coordinated when it comes to monitoring the distribution and trade of
drugs in the market - and as such, should work closer with local Health
Agencies because BPOM simply lack the manpower to visit each and every
drugstores, clinics and/or hospitals in Indonesia.
Faqih also said although the laws are not yet
set in stone, Indonesia already has the necessary instrument to penalise drug
counterfeiters. In order to ensure the efficiency of these mechanisms, he
continued, BPOM needs to work together with the police task force and the
Health Ministry to uncover the true extent of the counterfeit drugs
distribution chain.
The Head of Public Complaints for Indonesia's
Consumer Protection Agency (YLKI), Sularsih, said that enforcement should begin
by the imposition of tough penalties to those who have been caught in violation
of Indonesia's existing laws and regulations - but in lieu of the lack of laws
that clearly sets out how drugs and medications are supposed to be distributed,
BPOM needs to hash out the details and work ever more closely with the Health
Ministry and the Police.
Furthermore, continued Sularsih,
pharmaceutical companies whose products are known to have been counterfeited
should come forward and file a formal report - as a report will allow BPOM, the
Police task force, and the Health Ministry to begin their investigation.
YLKI even pushes for the inclusion of the
State Intelligence Agency (BIN) in the investigation to uncover the extent of the
counterfeit drug-trading network, as it has the structural and systematic
capacity that BPOM simply does not have. Once uncovered, key actors should
placed on a 'black-list', which will prevent them from ever dabbling in drug
counterfeiting.
"The public should also be educated, so
they could spot counterfeit drugs in the market more easily," said
Sularsih.
Danang Firmanto
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