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ollowing the discovery of a counterfeit vaccine production and distribution ring in the city, the Jakarta administration is deploying personnel to raid private hospitals and clinics to ensure that none of them use fake medications.

Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said at City Hall on Monday that he had ordered the Health Agency to ensure the city was free from counterfeit vaccines.

Ahok said he had received reports that at least four hospitals were regular purchasers of counterfeit vaccines. “I have ordered the agency to take stern measures against hospitals that sold fake vaccines,” he said.

Ahok condemned the producers and sellers of fake vaccines. “They have been producing fake vaccines for more than 10 years. They look like pious people but what they have done is cruel,” he said.

The police have cracked down on counterfeit vaccine production and distribution in three provinces — West Java, Jakarta and Banten — and have discovered fake measles, polio, tuberculosis, tetanus and hepatitis B vaccines.

The police have apprehended 13 suspects, who reportedly are eight producers, two distributors, two couriers and one maker of counterfeit labels, during raids in Jakarta, South Tangerang in Banten and Bekasi, Bogor and Subang in West Java, between June 16 and 23.

Pictures of two suspects, a married couple, posing in their luxurious house, in which the fake vaccines were reportedly produced, in Bekasi have gone viral and triggered outrage.

It was also revealed that the Drug and Food Monitoring Agency (BPOM) had been investigating the practice since 2013, when it received reports from the public about the fake vaccines.

Separately, Jakarta Health Agency head Koesmedi Priharto said the agency had examined city-owned hospitals and community health centers (puskesmas). “We did not find any counterfeit vaccines in community health centers in 44 districts in Jakarta,” he said.

Koesmedi said he would deploy his officers to check private hospitals and independent clinics to see whether their vaccines were fake or not. He said his officers would check whether vaccines were from state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma or not as the company was the major producer of vaccines distributed in Indonesia.

He said the personnel would also check the documents and receipts to see where the hospitals and clinics got the vaccines. “If there is a suspicious transaction, we will immediately report it to the BPOM,” he said.

Koesmedi said that if fake vaccines were uncovered during the raids, they would immediately be replaced by originals.

“The most important thing is we make sure that none of the [fake] vaccines are stored in our hospitals and clinics, so that service to patients can be maintained,” he said.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Consumer Foundation (YLKI) chairman Tulus Abadi said the government, as regulator, was also culpable given its negligence.

“As the practice has been going on for 13 years, it means that the Health Ministry and BPOM did not do their jobs,” he said. Tulus added that the counterfeit vaccines also showed that procurement did not go through the right procedures.

Tulus said the YLKI urged residents, especially parents whose children were born after 2004, to file a class action against the Health Ministry and the BPOM as well as other institutions.

“The YLKI is ready to facilitate residents who want to propose a class action in order to teach a lesson to the government, so they will not be reckless about doing their job in the future,” he said.