REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Government’s plan to increase fuel price may trigger the increasing price of other vital sectors, such as generic drugs. Furthermore, the increase would affect public health in general.

“The increasing of fuel price and Electricity Basic Tariff (TDL) could increase the price of essential generic drugs that furthermore would burden the public health cost,” the member of Commission IX in House of Representatives, Herlini Amran, said on Monday.

Amran urges the Ministry of Health to control the drug’s price to fit the public needs according to the Decree of the Minister of Health number HK.03.01/Menkes/146/I/2010 on generic drug price. “The price of generic drugs should fit the public needs,” she said.

She also asks the Ministry to tighten the control over generic drugs in the market. The volume of generic drugs dominates the market in 40 percent according to the data in Directorate General of Pharmacy and Medical Supplies of the Ministry of Health. “But the utilization in health facilities is only 8-11 percent,” she said.

Another reason that causes the increasing of generic drugs is related to the basic material of the drugs that still imported. In fact, about 95 percent of basic material depends on the import, especially from China and India. 

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