Jakarta. Cutting down the distribution process of medicines can be the shortcut to help cool down the soaring prices of pharmaceutical drugs, according to the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI).

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo wants to see Indonesians have access to cheaper medicines. Drugs are being sold in Indonesia at a price that is five times higher than those in other countries. 

Aside from Indonesia’s heavy reliance on imported pharmaceutical raw materials, IDI also blamed the soaring prices on the subpar product distribution management in Indonesia. IDI’s board chairman Mohammad Adib Khumaidi claimed that the government should consider streamlining the distribution process as a short-term strategy to make drugs cheaper. 

“So producers do not have to deal with very long distribution processes. We know that we have the large pharmaceutical manufacturers, and then there are the distributors and so on, which makes this chain longer,” Adib recently told Beritasatu.

“We can create these shortcuts on the distribution. Be it through the distributor or the pharmaceutical plants. We can also [cut down] the sales processes. … If only we can make this shortcut, perhaps we can cut down drug prices by 40-50 percent," Adib said.