JAKARTA. Close attention is being paid to operations at Pramuka Market, East Jakarta, after police discovered expired drugs for sale at a store in the largest pharmaceutical hub in the capital.

The latest in a series of violations in the distribution and sale of medicines may have occurred as a result of poor human resources, Penny Lukito of the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) said.

However, Penny said BPOM would intensify the search for illegal medications in high-risk areas amid the rampant of sale of counterfeit and expired drugs in the capital, including those at Pramuka Market.

“We will monitor the locations with the most offenses and high-risk areas,” she told to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Throughout the years, Penny said BPOM had conducted inspections at pharmaceutical wholesalers and drugstores, including those in Pramuka Market.

“We’ve found many violations as a result of our enforcement operations with the police,” she said.

Located near an infamous bird market, Pramuka Market is known to the capital’s residents as the one-stop shop for cheap medicines and medical equipment.

She said her agency had recommended that the city administration revoke the permits of drugstores that violated regulations and Health Ministry decrees.

On Thursday, the police seized thousands of expired drugs of various brands and types from a warehouse on Jl. Kayu Manis, Matraman district, in East Jakarta, and arrested a drugstore owner.

Jakarta Police special crimes division chief Sr. Comr. Fadil Imran revealed on Monday that the suspect, identified only as M, 41, was the owner of the Apotek Mamar Guci drugstore in the market.

Fadil said the suspect sold the expired drugs in his own drugstore.

“The suspect had been selling the expired drugs for a year and earned profits amounting to Rp 96 million [US$7,392] per month,” he said.

The police seized 1,963 strips of expired drugs, 49 bottles of liquid medicines, 24 sacks of expired drugs of various brands and types, 122 strips of expired drugs from which the expiration dates had been removed, three bottles of nail polish remover and cotton buds.

The brands of expired drugs allegedly sold by the suspect included Flavin allergy medication, Sohobal anemia medicine, Scopamin Plus for stomach aches, Zincare and Lodia diarrhoea treatments, Padonil and Forbetes for diabetes, Biosanbe a health supplement, Mersikol for bone pain relief, Nutrichol and Imudator multivitamins, Cindala antibiotics, Acran ulcer medication and Lipitor cholesterol treatment.

“He [the suspect] removed the expiration dates using nail polish remover,” Fadil said, adding that the suspect then printed new expiration dates.

Fadil explained that the suspect only removed the year of the expiration date while retaining the date and the month.

Fadil claimed that the suspect had violated Law No. 36/2009 on health and could be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp 1 billion.

In addition to that, the suspect is also accused of violating Law No. 8/1999 on consumer protection and could face a maximum of five years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp 2 billion.

BPOM recently revealed that Pramuka Market was the source of fake vaccines that were found to have been widely distributed in hospitals and clinics across Greater Jakarta and which included children’s vaccines.

However, the discovery that counterfeit vaccines had been widely distributed in Greater Jakarta seems not to have deterred the market’s patrons. Customers have continued to flock to Pramuka despite reports about the sale there of bogus and expired medications being constantly in the headlines.

Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie