Negligence in Monitoring Syrup Medicines Alleged Against BPOM: What is its Budget?

The Fact-Finding Team (TPF) on the case of child kidney failure, the National Consumer Protection Agency (BPKN), stated that the Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has been negligent in overseeing the circulation of children's syrup medicines on the market.

This is indicated by the cases of acute kidney failure in children, which have claimed nearly 200 lives, allegedly due to the consumption of syrup medicines containing the hazardous chemicals ethylene glycol (EG) and diethylene glycol (DEG).

The Head of the BPKN Fact-Finding Team, Mufti Mubarok, said that his team found that BPOM did not conduct supervision regarding the distribution permits of pharmaceutical companies and the distribution of raw materials for syrup medicines used by "misbehaving" pharmaceutical companies for the past 3 years.

"Our audit for the past 3 years shows there was absolutely no supervision whatsoever in the context of these syrup medicines," said Mufti as reported by *Kompas.com*, Monday (14/11/2022).

BPOM is a government agency tasked with overseeing the circulation of drugs and food. Every year, the government allocates trillions of rupiah to support BPOM's performance.

In the 2022 State Budget (APBN), the government allocated Rp2.09 trillion for BPOM's expenditure. This includes Rp978.5 billion for the drug and food surveillance program and Rp1.11 trillion for management support programs.

In the 2023 State Budget Draft (RAPBN), the government increased BPOM's budget by 5.95% to Rp2.22 trillion. Specifically, funding for the drug and food surveillance program increased by 2.92% to Rp1.01 trillion, and funding for management support increased by 8.62% to Rp1.21 trillion.