JAKARTA - The National Police formed a joint team to investigate allegations of criminal acts of importingum medicine in cases of acute kidney failure experienced by hundreds of children in the country.
The Head of the Public Relations Division of the National Police, Inspector General Dedi Prasetyo, explained that the National Police was following up on the request of the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy to investigate allegations of criminal acts of importing sirop medicinal ingredients in cases of kidney failure.
"Of course the Police will soon form a team," said Dedi when confirmed in Jakarta, Antara, Sunday, October 23.
In investigating alleged criminal acts, the National Police team will coordinate with the Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM).
"The National Police is coordinating with the Ministry of Health and BPOM to jointly investigate the case according to the leadership's attention," he said.
The investigation into the sirop drug case was commanded by the Directorate of Narcotics Crime, Bareskrim Polri.
Separately, the Director of Narcotics Crime at Bareskrim Polri Brigadier General Krisno H. Siregar said that the Directorate of Drug Research and the ranks carried out monitoring as well as appeals to all business actors and the public not to sell or buy drug products whose distribution is prohibited by the government.
"For its implementation, we are working with BPOM RI," said Krisno.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has announced as many as 102 brands of sirop drugs consumed by patients with atypical progressive acute kidney failure (acute kidney injury/AKI) in Indonesia.
All of these sirop medicinal products are clinically proven to contain polyethylene glycol which is actually harmless as a solvent of sirop drugs as long as its use is on a safe threshold.
According to the recognized Farmakope and national standard, the safe threshold or Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) for EG and DEG contamination is 0.5 mg/kg of weight per day.
However, if the mixed formula is bad, polyethylene glycol can trigger contamination, such as Ethilen Glikol (EG), Dietilen Glikol (DEG), and Ethilen Glikol Butil Ether (EGBE). Polyethylene glycol is an additional solvent that is rarely recorded in drug product information.
Previously, the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy asked the National Police to investigate allegations of criminal acts of importing sirop medicinal ingredients in cases of acute kidney failure experienced by hundreds of children in the country.
Muhadjir Effendy said investigations needed to be carried out because based on preliminary data, the raw materials for the drug were sirop which resulted in hundreds of Indonesian children having acute kidney failure being imported from a country that was not affected by this case.
"We have coordinated with the Ministry of Health, BPOM, the Ministry of Trade, and the Ministry of Industry and we have received input from all parties. Last night I called the National Police Chief so that this acute kidney failure case is investigated and examined whether or not there is a criminal act," he explained.
Muhadjir said there are three countries that import sirop medicinal ingredients, namely Indonesia with the most cases above 100 children, which is expected to continue to grow, Zambia in South Africa as many as 70 cases, and Nigeria in West Africa as many as 25 cases.
The government, said Muhadjir, will investigate the most upstream part, starting from the origin of the medicinal mixture, how the process of entering Indonesia, and the distribution of which pharmaceutical factories and the various products produced from this material.
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