There are some weeks I am involved in a traffic accident in Jakarta and ended up in hospital with a smashed nose, several broken teeth and a dislocated hand. After being stitched up with skill, cleaning, x-rayed and bandaged, I was given a bill, plus a prescription for six different drugs. I paid the bill, but paid no attention to the requirement, which was mostly for painkillers.
I asked the doctor if any medications prescribed were essential. "No," she admitted, "but patients want drugs and antibiotics."
clinical and Indonesian hospitals too are known to prescribe medication, antibiotics especially unnecessary. These drugs are good for the hospital's bottom line when sold at prices well marked by internal pharmacy.
Prescription drug can be bought much cheaper - and nonprescription - almost all pharmacies or pharmacy Indonesian street. This is wonderfully convenient if you want to cure you of bacterial infections, especially embarrassing.
For many years, I paid full price for brand antibiotics and unnecessary extra pills. As a side effect of my lifestyle once hedonist, I often seek treatment at a clinic in upscale health in Menteng, Central Jakarta. The doctor always prescribes three types of drugs and none were cheap. The only pleasure I derived from these visits was usually clearly unethical doctor joyfully reveal the names of its high-profile patients and the nature of their illnesses. Finally, I discovered that I could buy generic antibiotics at my local apotek (pharmacy) for a fraction of the price and give up all unnecessary medications.
obsession Indonesia with self-medication orders and permits strains of bacteria to build resistance to antibiotics. For example, resistance to antimalarial drugs has increased, which increases the cost of treatment that new drugs should be used.
Studies have shown that over 80% of patients diagnosed with respiratory tract infections in Indonesia received antibiotics, although the cause of the infection may have been viral. Many people seem to ignore that antibiotics treat bacterial infections, so that the best treatment for viral infections is often the body's immune system.
Indonesian infants with diarrhea are much more likely to be treated with antibiotics as oral rehydration salts. The apparent ignorance of some doctors are not surprising, given the possibly dubious qualifications. There are a few years, 52 students of Gadjah Mada University Yogyakarta were caught cheating at the entrance to the medical school exam.
Local doctors are likely to give a patient three or more types of drugs for a given disease. Sometimes a patient will be given similar types of antibiotics. Last year, I went in a Singapore hospital for a throat problem, probably due to two decades of chain smoking. The doctor anything, but common sense prescribes, recommends a better diet, more regular sleep and exercise. "I will not give you pills because you do not need," he said. The words I had ever heard in Indonesia.
If you receive an incompetent medical treatment, beware -you complain. Housewife Prita Mulyasari was jailed in 2009 after writing an email complaining that the hospital in Tangerang, west of Jakarta, had misdiagnosed a case of mumps that fever dengue.
Indonesia has a massive pharmaceutical sector. It also has a large industry in fake medicines. Many are sold on the Internet. the most commonly counterfeited people for erectile dysfunction. in d other words, much of the selling Viagra is not the real thing. Also popular in fake medical clinics are vitamins, analgesics, antihistamines, cosmetics, slimming pills, antibiotics and anti-depressants. illegal drugs, such as ecstasy, are often rigged and sold in nightclubs with police protection.
According to some estimates, up to 30% of the medicine sold in South Asia is false. Prosecution of drug counterfeiters are rare in Indonesia, and the sentences of sellers are usually only a small fine or a few months in prison.
Police in the capital of West Java Bandung last month broke a counterfeit drug factory that produced 600,000 pills a day and had reportedly won the owner of $ 1.3 million per month.
Even the genuine vitamin supplements are something of a scam because they are not necessary, unless the regular food intake of a person is deficient nutritionally. Eating a small clove of garlic, a little ginger and lime every morning should be sufficient to ward off the cold. It will also remove unwanted sexual predators.