Our market is vast. If most of the medical sector spending goes to Indonesia and (instead of) overseas, our economic growth will be high…Jakarta (ANTARA) - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has said that he expects domestic production and spending on medical devices to be optimized in order to improve the resilience of the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors.
In a written statement received here on Wednesday, he informed that for 2022, the Health Ministry has assigned a budget of Rp38 trillion (US$2.4 billion) for spending on medical devices and medicines.
Of this amount, around Rp17 trillion (US$1.09 billion) has been allocated for spending on drugs, vaccines, and domestic-made medical devices. The expenditure allocation has now reached Rp8 trillion (US$511 million).
Currently, imported products account for more than 90 percent of the total market for Indonesian medical devices, he pointed out.
"Our market is vast. If most of the medical sector spending goes to Indonesia and (instead of) overseas, our economic growth will be high, supported by this," the minister highlighted.
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Sadikin said that to achieve the medical spending target of Rp17 trillion, the government needs the support and commitment of business players to establish the independence of the medical device industry, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
An example of this support is the domestic production of medical devices by PT Astra Component Indonesia (ASKI), including 2D USG products, anthropometry sets, and autoclaves (sterilization units), which were officially launched on Wednesday.
Sadikin said he expects production capability to be followed up with an improvement in production capacity, and the development of medical equipment to not only focus on medical devices for curative efforts, but also promotive and preventive efforts.
"In the future, Astra can produce medical devices that are for early examination, such as test kits for diabetes, hypertension, blood pressure, and others, so there is no need to go to the lab. So, there are lots of opportunities for preventive and promotion (aspects)," Sadikin said
He advised the company to cooperate with MSMEs at the regional level in the production process.
"Later, what is difficult can be produced in Astra, have it integrated in Astra, but the components can be made at the regional level. That I ask so that the ecosystem can be formed, together with the domestic industry can increase, especially in the next five years," he added.
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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Suharto
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