DRUG DISTRIBUTION DISPARITY IN INDONESIA, WHEN WILL IT END? AMBASSADOR: FAIRUZ AISYA ALZURA, JAYSON WILBERT HMF ‘AP’ ITB , INDONESIA
Until now, there are still some problems in the health sector that need attention and action to overcome them. We believe that every country has its own emphasis on health problems, including Indonesia, which still has several unanswered and unsolved problems. On this occasion, we will talk more specifically about health inequity in Indonesia. Quoted from WHO (World Health Organisation), health inequities are differences in health status or in the distribution of health resources between different population groups, arising from the social conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. In Indonesia, there are at least 4 main obstacles that need to be addressed regarding this issue. 1. Archipelago state. Consisting of more than 17,000 islands, the distribution of food and health is often hampered because remote areas cannot be reached only by land route. This uneven geographical distribution leads to inadequate supply and resources. Despite the distribution difficulty, the biggest problem in drug distribution is the difficulty of obtaining drug logistics information. There are regencies in one province which have excessive availability of drugs, but on the other hand there are regencies that lack drugs. 2. Economic condition. As one of the LMIC (Low Middle Income Countries), around 40% of 269 million people in Indonesia live on less than US$ 3.10 per day. In addition, the health sector only gets 5% of the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget and is divided among each local government. This number shows the difficulty of providing equitable health services for the community. 3. Poor access and connectivity. The serious inequality in factors affecting access consists of transportation costs, travel time to health care facilities, availability of health insurance or guarantees, and ability to pay. 4. Low healthcare professionals to Indonesian population ratio.. The average pharmacist ratio to population per 100,000 population is only 1:35 and this disparity becomes a serious matter in almost all regions. Regarding the pandemic that is happening right now, especially in Indonesia, there has been a surge in drug demand and our country has been facing a lot of problems relating to the drug distribution equivalence. The ministry, in collaboration with the State-owned Enterprise and private pharmaceutical industries, continues to monitor the availability of drugs in the field, ranging from industry, pharmaceutical wholesalers, hospitals to pharmacies. The drugs are distributed to hospitals and pharmacies to be accessible to the public. To meet the increasing demand for drugs, the government calls on the pharmaceutical industry to increase production capacity, speed up importation and distribution of drugs. Also, these industries and the public are urged not to hoard drugs. Other than high drug demand, our country has also been struggling with medical equipment distribution equivalence. Medical equipment is different from other kinds of tools because it is a set of tools whose quality must be ensured so that they can reach users in a good and safe condition.
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