Kendal, August 27, 2022. Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin inaugurated the production facility and the first launch of domestically-produced Mindray electromedical medical devices in Kendal Industrial Estate, Central Java.

In his remarks, the Minister of Health said that despite the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, the challenges of the health sector are still very large. “Currently we are facing a triple burden of diseases or the burden of three diseases that appear simultaneously,” said the Minister of Health.

The three disease burdens are the rapid prevalence of non-communicable diseases, the relatively high rate of infectious diseases, and the emergence of the phenomenon of a variety of new infectious diseases that evolve from old diseases. This needs great attention, because it is the main burden of health financing in the National Health Insurance (JKN) program.

“To handle this health problem, it is necessary to support the availability of safe, quality, and useful medical devices, and of course affordable prices,” continued the Minister of Health.

In the effort of medical device resilience, the Ministry of Health focuses on accelerating the production of domestic medical devices. The medical device industry in Indonesia is also expected to utilize local raw materials and increase the use of domestic raw materials and components, so that resilience can be realized from upstream to downstream in the country.

Domestically produced medical devices that have obtained distribution permits, which certainly meet the requirements of safety, quality and usefulness, are expected to meet domestic needs independently, and then be able to compete globally, in the export market. For this reason, the medical device industry must have quality that meets global standards.

The Minister of Health, accompanied by Director of Medical Device Production Sodikin Sadek and Director of Pharmaceutical Production and Distribution Agusdini Banun Saptaningsih, said that she wants to target 60% of domestic medical device production using local components.

“If there are still some components from abroad, it's okay. But we cannot do this for too long. We want about 50-60% of medical devices and medicines from upstream to downstream to be developed and produced domestically,” said the Minister of Health.

The Minister of Health said the target was based on the consideration that medical devices in Indonesia, both finished and raw materials, are still dominated by imports.

The Minister said that support from producers and MSMEs is very important to realize the nation's independence in the health sector. One of them is done by PT D&V International Makmur Gemilang in collaboration with PT Mindray Medical Indonesia to produce electromedical medical devices in the country.

“I welcome the joint venture / technology transfer cooperation efforts made by PT D&V International Makmur Gemilang and PT Mindray Medical Indonesia,” said the Minister of Health.

Joint venture / technology transfer is one method that can be done to accelerate the development of the medical device industry in Indonesia and this can be followed by other electromedical medical device products needed in health services, including medical devices with medium - high technology, to be able to encourage the achievement of resilience and independence of medical devices in Indonesia, fulfill the needs of medical devices in Indonesia, and place Indonesia in the global supply chain.

The Minister of Health hopes that the presence of domestic products can provide health services at a more affordable price. In addition, the Minister of Health also appealed to users of medical devices such as hospitals and other health service facilities, to start using domestic medical devices.

“By using domestic medical devices, we have contributed positively to the Indonesian economy in advancing and developing the domestic medical device industry and strengthening economic competitiveness both nationally and globally,” said the Minister of Health.

On another occasion, the Minister of Health along with the Director of Pharmaceutical Production and Distribution and the Director of Medical Device Production and Distribution also paid a working visit to the production facility of the active ingredient of Astaxanthin anti-oxidant Evergen Resources. Through this visit, the Minister of Health encouraged increased research and development of bio-medical science technology to accelerate health transformation efforts in Indonesia.