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Evaluating Accessibility of Essential Medicines in Indonesia: A Survey on Availability and Prices in Public and Private Health Sectors
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| Author:
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SUSI KRISTINA, HARDIKA ADITAMA, DWI ENDARTI
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| Abstract:
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Background: Accessibility to essential medicines is a major challenge in developing countries, including in Indonesia health care system. Assessment of medicines availability and affordability is needed to become a baseline infomation for further health policies. The present study was aimed to investigate the availability and price of essential medicines in both public and private health facilities in Indonesia.
Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out using the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI) methodology. Availability data for 50 medicines of global, regional, and supplementary list of medicines was collected from six health facilities, consisted of public and private hospitals and retail pharmacies in Yogyakarta region. Medicine price ratios were calculated using international reference prices (IRPs).
Results: The mean availability of generic essential medicines in public healthcare facilities and private sectors was 76.6% and 60.58%, respectively. Availability of generic medicines was much higher in the public sector. Four medicines had zero availability were atenolol tablet, enalapril tablet, beclometason inhaler, and clotrimazole topical cream. The procurement price in public sector was 0.98, while in private sector was 2.46 times the IRP. Findings of Median MPR of lowest-priced generic (LPG) in the private sector for ceftriaxone was 5.64, ranitidine was 4.35, and salbutamol was 4.19 times higher than international price. In public health facilities, ceftriaxone injection was 2.19 times compared to international price.
Conclusion: This study revealed that availability of essential medicines was inadequate, but procurement prices of surveyed medicines were considered efficient, especially in public sector. However, variation in procurement prices of selected medicines was noted. These evidences impose significant policy implications that could help in formulating policies to optimize the access to essential medicines for patients.
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| Keyword:
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essential medicines; accessibility; availability; price; Indonesia
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| EOI:
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-
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| DOI:
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https://doi.org/10.31838/ijpr/2020.12.02.0095
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| Download:
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