Scan the therapeutic categories. You will find Chinidini Sulfas (Quinidine) for malaria—a drug the WHO was already phasing out due to resistance. You will find Oleum Ricini (Castor oil) as a first-line laxative. The 1978 Fornas still carried the DNA of the Nederlandsch-Indische Farmacopee . It was a modern Indonesian document written over a colonial medical ghost. It prioritized "proven use in the field" over "updated science."
The Ghost in the Pharmacy: What the 1978 Formularium Nasional Reveals About Suharto’s New Order formularium nasional 1978 pdf
Most historians point to 1980s deregulation for generics. Wrong. The battle lines were drawn in 1978. This Fornas was the first serious attempt to break the psychological hold of branded Dutch and Japanese legacy drugs (like the infamous Antalgin vs generic Metamizole). The 1978 list included drugs like Tetrasiklin and Kloramfenikol —antibiotics that the West had already flagged for toxicity. Why? Because they were cheap and available. This document inadvertently preserved a generation of medical practice based on pre-WHO Essential Medicines logic. Scan the therapeutic categories