Jakarta (ANTARA) – Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin pointed to a mere three percent of the medicines being produced domestically in Indonesia, while the remaining 97 percent were imported.
“For medicines, only three percent are produced domestically. We still import 97 percent (of them), since out of the 1,809 drug items in the e-catalog, only 56 drug items are produced domestically,” the minister stated at a virtual press conference held to discuss efforts to bolster the use of domestically made medical equipment products here on Tuesday.
Out of the 10 major medicinal raw materials, only two were produced domestically, specifically Clopidogrel and Paracetamol, while the rest are still imported.
Similarly, most of the country’s medical devices were imported.
To date, 358 types of medical device products had been produced domestically, according to the Ministry of Health’s Medical Device Registration (Regalkes) system.
Meanwhile, based on the 2019-2020 e-catalog, 496 types of medical devices were traded, of which as many as 152 were manufactured domestically.
The minister expressed concern over the high percentage of imports in the procurement of medical equipment, medicines, and raw materials for medicines.
“We view it from the health resilience system. Hence, we want to ensure that all raw materials for medicines and medical devices can be produced domestically to reduce our dependence on other countries. Especially during a pandemic such as this, the system of our health resilience should be strong,” he emphasized.
The ministry has readied several measures to increase the absorption of domestic medical devices, including by ensuring regulations in favor of domestic products; immediately calculating the Domestic Component Level (TKDN) of medical equipment and making TKDN as the main requirement in the e-catalog; and conducting promotions, particularly to prioritize domestic purchases.
In the long term, the ministry will build resource competencies in order to facilitate technology transfer and build a better research ecosystem, he affirmed.
As for the short term, his party will alter 5,462 imported medical devices (79 types of medical devices) to similar medical devices that can be produced domestically.
“Of the (total) 40,243 items, some 5,462 items have already been manufactured domestically. Hence, the government’s procurement is only allowed for the purchase of medical devices that have been produced domestically, at the amount of around Rp6.5 trillion,” the minister remarked.
Source: Antara News