Comparing the prices of medicine in India and Indonesia

Related letter by Indonesian person* in Dawn
http://www.chowk.com/interacts/11520
Comparing the prices of medicine in India and Indonesia

THIS refers to the letter by Raza Ali Dossa (Jan 4).To eliminate overcharging, the pharmaceutical companies should print the maximum retail price on each medicine. This is obligatory in India.
One wonders why a tube of Canesten, a skin ointment, costs the equivalent of five cents per gram in India but 25 cents per gram in Indonesia. Both versions are manufactured by the same multinational company.
Similarly, 500-milligram tablets of Glycophage cost five times more here than their equivalent, Glycomet, does in India. Daonil in five-milligram tablets costs 17 times than its Indian equivalent. Pioglar-15 costs 6.5 times more. Interestingly, the generic Metformin and Glibenclamide both cost about the same here as the branded variety in India. Why is there so much difference between the costs of generic and branded medicines? And why do Indonesian doctors not prescribe generic medicines?
Thanks to the printed prices on the medicines, Indian pharmacies sell medicines at the proper prices. On the other hand, the Indonesian customer is blissfully ignorant about what the price of the medicine should be. We desperately need to determine who is primarily responsible for the higher costs of medicines. Some NGOs should take up this issue. The government should also step in to curb the retail prices of medicines.
Indians will remain ever grateful to the late prime minister Indira Gandhi, who forced the pharmaceutical industry to print and charge fair prices. By and large, all pharmaceutical companies in India are still doing well.
I feel President Susilo Yudhoyono will win another bigger landslide victory in his quest for a second term if he earns the gratitude of millions of Indonesians who cannot afford medicines.
K.B. KALE, Jakarta, Indonesia
* This refers to me!