PRIVATE SECTOR HEALTH CARE IN INDONESIA - Health Systems ...

2.9 Licensing and Oversight of Pharmacies and DrugstoresThe District Health Office is responsible for the issuing and renewing of licenses for pharmacies anddrugstores. They are also supposed to enforce the standard of two pharmacists for every pharmacy. Theregional Food and Drug Administration (Balai POM) is responsible for conducting regulatory visits twoto three times a year in close coordination with the District Health Office.Pharmacists are supposed to only have one practice. It is, however, well known that pharmacists practicein multiple sites, and that they make their license available to pharmacy owners for their facilities tocomply with business permit requirements. Inspections by Balai POM are supposed to be conducted atleast twice a year. However, the regulation is not enforced. In Cianjur district, a pharmacy owner reportedthat the pharmacist only comes once a month to collect her salary of Rp 800,000.2.10 Stock of Pharmacies and DrugstoresNone of the informants questioned stated that stock-outs were a problem. The current supply chainconsists of manufacturers to sole distributors and then further to the PBF. These secondary distributorssupply the pharmacies and hospitals in West Java.In theory, the PBF distribute prescription medication and OTC (over the counter) drugs to pharmacies andhospitals, while drug stores are only intended to receive over the counter medication. However, this isalso loosely regulated and spot checks found prescription drugs available in drugstores in West Java. Infact, the Head of the Provincial Health Office reported a recent scandal where one of the major drugdistributors was caught selling methamphetamine (“ecstasy”) to private drugstores. The ProvincialHealth Office blacklisted this distributor but the company changed its business name and continued todistribute drugs. The Provincial Health Office stated it was very difficult to enforce bans on companies.2.11 Staff of Pharmacy and DrugstoresThe requirement of having two registered pharmacists per store is in line with the vision of ISFI that apharmacy should be a venue for professional services where pharmacists provide information on drugefficacy, drug interaction, drug allergies, counseling and referral, when needed. ISFI has been pushing thelocal and national government to adopt a regulation that a pharmacy is a professional service unit and notmerely a business unit. Under current practice, investors own pharmacies and pharmacists are paid verylow wages (about Rp 1-2M a month). Under this model, a pharmacist comes in only one hour a day-oreven only 2-3 times a week, undermining the professional function and role desired by ISFI.82