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nly 30 percent of the at least 27,000 pharmacists working across Indonesia posses a certificate declaring their competency, an official with the Association of Indonesian Pharmacy Graduates (ISFI) has said.

Speaking to journalists here Thursday, secretary of the association, Arel ST Iskandar, said this was mainly due to the fact that official certification for pharmacists had only been available in the country since 2006.

Thanks to the certification program, he said, the gap in quality between certified and uncertified pharmacists can now be clearly seen, Arel said on the sidelines of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the education of pharmacists in Indonesia, at Padjadjaran University.

Arel added that in a bid to help improve the competence of the certified pharmacists his association would also implement the so-called Pharmacist Professional Competence Certification (SKPA) that could be obtained through joining seminars and tests of competence.

"ISFI is to issue the certificates and provide (the recipients) with compulsory workshops to make sure that they are really competent as pharmacists," Arel said.

Arel also said that apart from the competency of pharmacists, other problems include the limited number of pharmacies possessing licenses by the ISFI which assure that the drugs they sell meet the required standards.

He said only 20 percent of at least 10,100 pharmacies nationwide have the licenses. Most of those without a license, he added, operate outside Java in places like Kalimantan and Papua, or other regions where there are no pharmacy colleges.