Director General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, L. Rizka Andalucia officially opened the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) on the Availability of Medicines with Domestically Produced Pharmaceutical Salt Raw Materials in Jakarta on March 7, 2024.

Pertemuan ini bertujuan untuk menyediakan wadah untuk mendiskusikan tantangan dan usulan solusi untuk mengubah sumber garam farmasi bagi industri farmasi di Indonesia dan mendapatkan informasi mengenai kesiapan industri garam farmasi nasional dalam memenuhi kebutuhan garam farmasi di Indonesia dan menjamin ketersediaan obat untuk pelayanan kesehatan.

Inviting speakers from the Ministry of Industry, the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM), the Indonesian Pharmaceutical Companies Association (GPFI) and the Ministry of Health, representatives from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, the Ministry of Trade, the National Single Window Agency, the Indonesian Biopharmaceutical and Drug Raw Materials Association (AB3O) and Pharmaceutical Industry players in Indonesia were also present.

Pharmaceutical salt is salt that has the highest quality with NaCl content> 99.8%. In the pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical salt is used as a raw material for infusion preparations, tablet production, vaccine solvents, syrups, ORS, blood washing fluids, health drinks, and others.

Based on the commodity balance in 2023, the need for salt for the pharmaceutical industry is 6,518 tons and the majority is met from imported pharmaceutical salt. Meanwhile, Indonesia already has three pharmaceutical salt producers with a total capacity of 12,480 tons / year which is expected to meet all domestic pharmaceutical salt needs, said Director General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices L. Rizka Andalusia when opening the Focus Group Discussion.

"The use of domestically produced pharmaceutical salt has its own challenges, such as the long time needed to conduct trials on the use of domestic pharmaceutical salt, especially in the product stability test which takes up to two years. Therefore, support from all stakeholders is needed in an effort to fulfill the finished product registration certification," said Rizka.

Furthermore, Rizka explained that the health resilience paradigm has also been outlined by the government and DPR in Law No. 17 of 2023 concerning Health. The law mandates "Ensuring the use of medicinal materials and raw materials for medical devices produced domestically by the domestic pharmaceutical and medical device industries," said Rizka.

Therefore, the Ministry of Health always encourages the increased use of domestic drug raw materials (BBO). "Nevertheless, we need to prioritize the availability of drugs for health services. We must avoid implementing regulations that trigger potential drug vacancies, so that efforts to build independence do not have a negative impact on the continuity of health services," Rizka added.

"I encourage all parties to collaborate to maintain the synchronization of domestic pharmaceutical salt production, to meet the needs of the national pharmaceutical industry," said Rizka.

Director of Pharmaceutical Security and Medical Devices, Roy Himawan at the end of the discussion invited the Ministry or Institution together with the industry to work together to develop innovations in research and development facilitation policies to ensure the quality and market access of domestically produced pharmaceutical salt. "It is our shared responsibility to encourage and facilitate the supply and fulfillment of pharmaceutical salt through domestic production," Himawan concluded.