Dubai, 29 Januari 2024.

The Ministry of Health realizes the efforts of domestic medical device resilience by participating in Arab Health 2024 in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Industry, Consulate General in Dubai, ITPC Dubai, ASPAKI, Gakeslab and the domestic medical device industry which is incorporated in the country pavilion, namely the Indonesian Pavilion.

Arab Health 2024 is the world's largest exhibition for medical devices. The Ministry of Health's participation in Arab Health 2024 is an effort to respond to the world market demand trend for domestic medical devices which is growing at 4.56% per year by cooperating with 19 domestic medical device industries. The enthusiasm of the domestic medical device industry at Arab Health 2024 is also very large, even compared to last year, the number of domestic medical device industries participating in Arab Health has doubled.

Arab Health is an annual international exhibition of health products that has been held for 49 years in Dubai. According to Arab Health 2023 post result show data, the exhibition was attended by more than 110,000 visitors from 180 countries. In addition, there were more than 44 country pavilions from 76 countries that generated business deals worth USD 1.8 billion.

"The Ministry of Health focuses on transforming the resilience of pharmaceutical preparations and medical devices, one of which is through participation in Arab Health 2024. This is done to encourage the expansion of market access for domestic medical devices at the global level, especially Middle Eastern and African countries," said the Director for Medical Device Production and Distribution, Dede Mulyadi when giving a speech at the Inauguration of the Indonesian Pavilion at the Arab Health 2024 Exhibition.

The occasion was attended by the Director General for Metals, Machinery, Transportation Equipment and Electronics Industry of the Ministry of Industry, Taufik Bawazier, and the Indonesian Consul General in Dubai, Cakra Negara. Cakra expressed his appreciation for the increased participation of the domestic medical device industry in Arab Health 2024 compared to last year. This year, the Ministry of Health facilitated 19 domestic medical device industries to appear at the international event, which took place at the Dubai World Trade Center on January 29-February 1, 2024.

"We appreciate the medical device industry players who have participated in this prestigious event. We also hope that this opportunity can be utilized as well as possible to promote medical devices made by the domestic industry by prioritizing competitive advantages so that domestic medical devices can compete with other countries," said Cakra. Cakra further added that Arab Health not only opens opportunities for the domestic medical device industry to enter the Middle East market but also the global market.

In realizing the resilience of medical devices, the Ministry of Health also focuses on the development of medical devices. Through the Arab Health 2024 event, the Ministry of Health not only encourages the domestic medical device industry to cooperate with distributors from abroad but also encourages cooperation in terms of medical device development through technology transfer, reverse engineering, and research and innovation.

Indonesia managed to book a potential transaction of USD 13.16 million at the Arab Health 2024 Exhibition. This value increased by 43.83 percent from the achievement of transactions in 2023 which was recorded at USD 9.15 million. The potential transaction value consists of potential transactions of USD 12.08 million; the signing of a collaboration between PT Graha Tekno Medika and Surgiris, a French operating lights company of USD 1.07 million; and the signing of a collaboration between PT Mega Andalan Kalasan (MAK) with six distributors from Qatar, PEA, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Oman and the Czech Republic of USD 825 thousand for hospital furniture products.

The types of products that attracted the most visitors during the exhibition were syringes, sphygmomanometers, and stethoscopes, hospital equipment, ceraspons, haemostatic sponges, and infusion pumps. Most of the visitors to the Indonesian Pavilion came from Mauritius, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, India, and Saudi Arabia.

Indonesia's representation at Arab Health 2024 is proof that the domestic medical device industry continues to strive to improve the quality of products produced to meet the required standards, so that it is able to participate in the supply chain both at the national and global levels.