The high transaction of imported medical devices in health services in Indonesia is a top priority for the government to regulate medical device spending in government-owned health service facilities. In addition, strengthening the competitiveness of the domestic medical device industry needs to be encouraged in order to produce medical devices that are not inferior in quality to other countries. The President has issued instructions to the Ministry of Health.

Increasing domestic product spending and encouraging the growth of the domestic medical device industry and types is part of the Health System Transformation, especially the third pillar related to Health Security. As an effort made to realize this, the Directorate General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices through the Directorate of Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Resilience held a Business Matching in the Context of Accelerating Shopping for Domestically Produced Medical Devices (PDN) and the Exhibition of Indonesian Production Medical Devices at Aruna Senggigi Resort and Convention, West Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara on March 12-14, 2023. This activity involved selected Health Offices and Regional Public Hospitals in the central region of Indonesia as well as Associations and the Domestic Medical Device Industry.

The meeting was opened by the Secretary of the Directorate General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, Dita Novianti S.A., S.Si., Apt., MM. Through her remarks, Mrs. Sesditjen conveyed an overview of current domestic medical device transactions and government policies to encourage pharmaceutical and medical device resilience in Indonesia.

"Business Matching and Exhibition of Domestic Medical Devices Products has a significant impact on the number of transactions of domestic medical devices that appear in the e-catalog. The transaction value of domestically produced medical devices in 2021-2022 has increased approximately 5 (five) times compared to the total transaction value in 2019-2020," concluded Mrs. Sesditjen.

The increased use of domestic products will further improve domestic health security and can also have a positive impact on improving the economy in Indonesia. The Ministry of Health will continue to evaluate the use of domestic products in all hospitals, especially Vertical Hospitals and Regional Government Hospitals.

On the same occasion, the Secretary of Directorate General together with the Head of the West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Health Office had the opportunity to open and visit the exhibition of medical devices produced in Indonesia around the meeting room area. 84 domestic medical device industries participated in this exhibition with more than 140 medical device products on display. Attendees were able to consult and gain in-depth information regarding domestic medical device products. The Directorate General of Pharmaceuticals also provided a consultation booth related to the distribution license of domestic medical devices.

In addition to the implementation of Business Matching and Exhibition of Medical Devices for Domestic Products, this series of activities was filled with the delivery of material by resource persons, followed by panel discussions and awards to 3 (three) RSUDs in the West Nusa Tenggara region with the highest domestic medical device expenditure value. The three awardee hospitals are: Dr. R. Soedjono Selong Regional General Hospital; Dompu Regency General Hospital; and East Lombok Regional General Hospital.

It is hoped that this meeting can provide useful results for users in increasing knowledge related to technology and quality of domestic medical devices, and for medical device manufacturers to increase innovation and quality of medical devices so that they are in accordance with what users expect.