The Ministry of Health in collaboration with the state-owned and private pharmaceutical industries continues to monitor the availability of drugs in the field starting from the industry, Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (PBF), hospitals to pharmacies. The drugs are distributed to hospitals and pharmacies to be accessible to the public.
To meet the increasing need for drugs in line with the surge in cases, the government asked the state-owned and private pharmaceutical preparation industries to increase production capacity, accelerate importation, and distribution of drugs. The industry and the public are asked not to hoard drugs.
In a press conference with the media on Saturday (10/7), Acting. Director General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Arianti Anaya explained that with the increasing number of positive COVID-19 cases, the price of drugs that are considered potential and have been used in COVID-19 therapy is uncontrollable in the market due to high demand in the community.
For this reason, the Ministry of Health needs to regulate the upper limit of drug prices, especially those considered potential and already used in COVID-19 therapy. "We invite the health industry to support the implementation of this Highest Retail Price policy in order to protect the interests of many people from those who want to gain personal benefits over the difficulties of others," Arianti said.
In addition, what is also important is related to the scarcity of drugs for COVID-19 therapy on the market. "If we look at it, the stock of this drug is actually quite available. Of course, we will continue to monitor the industry or PBF not to hoard these drugs because if we calculate from the needs compared to the stock, it should be enough," Arianti concluded.
Currently, stocks of COVID-19 therapy drugs such as Oseltamivir, Favipiravir, Remdesivir, and other COVID-19 therapy drugs are available at the Provincial Health Office, at the Central Pharmaceutical Installation, in the pharmaceutical industry and PBF, in hospitals, and also in pharmacies.
To monitor the availability of COVID-19 therapy drugs at various health service facilities, the Ministry of Health provides the Farma Plus application that can be accessed by the public through https://farmaplus.kemkes.go.id/. "The Ministry of Health made the Farma Plus application where the availability of drugs in pharmacies can be accessed by the public. We are working with state-owned and private industries," Arianti said. The soon-to-be-launched application allows the public to find out information related to the existence of COVID-19 therapy drug stocks in all health service facilities, such as pharmacies and hospitals. "The network reaches all corners of Indonesia," she said.
