UNAIR NEWS Buy drugs in a pharmacy! It was stated by Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy (FF) 51 (UNAIR) Dr. Hj. Umi Athijah, M.S., Apt., when she commented on the online distribution and sale of drugs.
As we all know, there are so many users of social media selling pharmaceutical products like internal drugs such as heightener or slimming drugs also stamina booster. Some people purchase and consume the drugs they buy online.
Quoting Tempo.co, Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) and the Ministry of Communication and Informatics have identified 214 pages used to sell and distribute illegal drugs. From May 30 to June 7 2016, 1,312 illegal parmaceutica products have been confiscated including the fake ones which are worth Rp 56 billion.
Interviewed by UNAIR NEWS on September 23, Umi explained that the definition of illegal and fake products are confusing. Nevertheless, Umi highlighted that the motive for the production of fake pharmaceutical products was financial.
The criteria for fakes are many. Factories are authorized to produce some drugs. Some of the makers do not have the permit to produce them. Second, in the package written the content in certain milligram but in reality it was more or less than the prescribed content. The range of fakeness is quite wide. Some showed that the packaging and the content inside was not the same, like the vaccines. People fake them for financial reasons. They just want to get more money, said Umi.
She regretted as it happens on a big scale as drugs are not like any other commodities like food. Therefore, she encouraged the authority to improve their drug management.
There must be pharmacists. But the system itself was not fully implemented. Not all pharmacies have pharmacists. The competent human resources have not spread evenly, said Dean of FF UNAIR. Beside even pharmacist placements, Umi suggested the government to improve the pharmaceutical industry monitoring either small or big scale.
Regarding the online illegal drugs distribution and sale, she questioned the legality and permit they have as legit pharmacies usually let the pharmacist or assistant pharmacist responsible for the sale. Therefore, she suggested people to buy drugs in legit pharmacies.
So buy drugs in places with supervisors. Pharmacies have supervising pharmacist and assistant pharmacist. Therefore the drugs sold in drugs store are not always the same with the ones sold in pharmacies. There must be hard drugs in pharmacies as they have supervisors, said the lecturer of Pharmaceutical Management in Health System in FF UNAIR.
Regarding the quality human resources, Umi said that FF UNAIR students during college have learned a lot of things through the courses and practices on quality assusrance. It is introduced in the first semester, so the elements of conscientiousness, carefulness, have been prepared in details. The curriculum directed there, Umi said. (*)
Author: Defrina Sukma S.
Editor: Nuri Hermawan
