REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia's HIV patients and people living with AIDS are feared to not be able to get the Antiretroviral Fixed Dose Combinations of Tenofovir, Lamivudin, Efavirens (ARV FDC TLE). The condition was caused by the failure of last year's auction to procure the ARV FDC TLE medicines, Indonesia AIDS Coalition (IAC) Executive Director Aditya Wardhana noted.
"The auction process for procuring the ARV FDC TLE stocks, held in 2018, has reportedly failed. Hence, the funds that had been allocated in the 2018 State Budget cannot be used for purchasing these HIV/AIDS medicines," he stated in a statement that Antara quoted here on Friday.
The state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Kimia Farma that the Indonesian Health Ministry directly appointed to provide the HIV/AIDS medicines disagreed with the government's offered prices. Moreover, a limited auction that the government had organized with two participating bidders -- the state-owned pharmaceutical companies PT Kimia Farma and PT Indofarma Global -- also failed to decide a winner, he noted.
In dealing with this situation, the Indonesian Health Ministry decided to apply emergency procurement by using funds of the Global Fund for purchasing the ARV FDC TLE medicines from India, Wardhana revealed.
"Around 220 thousand bottles of ARV FDC TLE medicines had arrived in Jakarta in early December of 2018, but the stocks are just sufficient until March 2019," he stated, adding that in 2018, Indonesia had some 631,635 HIV patients and people living with AIDS.
The AR FDC TLE medicines cannot ensure total recovery from HIV and AIDS. Instead, the HIV/AIDS medicines can halt the number of human immunodeficiency viruses in the patients' bodies.
The HIV/AIDS patients will face a risk of drug resistance if they failed to consume their recommended medicines regularly, he cautioned. In dealing with this condition, he urged PT Kimia Farma and Indofarma Global to join a limited auction and reduce prices of their HIV/AIDS medicines.
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