Accelerating Pace of Achieving Independence in Health Sector

Kompas

A number of medical devices, including wheelchairs and devices to measure blood sugar levels as well as medical equipment are on display at a health shop in the Blok M area, Jakarta, Wednesday (20/4). More than 90 percent of medical devices are imported.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Covid-19 pandemic has clearly shown the weakness of health infrastructure in Indonesia. Due to its heavy dependence on imported pharmaceutical products and medical devices, the country faces difficulties to meet the people’s healthcare needs during a health crisis. Therefore, cross-sector collaboration must be further strengthened in order to accelerate the pace in achieving the nation’s independence in the health sector.

The acting director general of pharmaceuticals and medical devices at the Health Ministry, Arianti Anaya, said Indonesia had difficulties in fulfilling the needs for drugs and medical devices when Covid-19 cases reached their peak due to its heavy dependence on imports. “More than 90 percent of our pharmaceutical needs, including our drugs, vaccines and medical devices, are imported from abroad. So, during a pandemic, when all countries need the same products, we have difficulty in obtaining them," she said in CEO Live Series #1 panel discussion titled "Healthcare Industry Post Pandemic" in Jakarta on Wednesday (11/10/2021).

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At least 94 percent of medical devices used in Indonesia in 2019 were imported with a total value of Rp 26 trillion (about US$1.8 billion). For the pharmaceutical industry, 95 percent of raw materials were also imported, mainly from China (60 percent) and India (30 percent).

It is still not known when the pandemic will end. In addition, there is the potential for another pandemic in the future. "We have to better prepare ourselves to be able to locally produce drugs and health devices," he said.

Multiple strategies

In this regard, the government has prepared a number of strategies to support the independence of the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries. They include the issuance of regulations which could, among other things, determine the percentage of local components in drugs and medical devices sold in Indonesia to at least 50 percent.

Kalbe Farma’s CEO, Vidjongtius, said collaboration and commitment from all parties were the key to accelerating the development of domestic health products, especially in research and innovation of pharmaceutical products. The pharmaceutical industry can collaborate with research institutions and universities in the production of pharmaceutical raw materials.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Sit two from left to right; CEO of Kalbe Farma Vidjongtius, COO of Eka Hospital Group Rina Setiawati, CCO of SehatQ Andrew Sulistya, acting Director General of Pharmacy and Medical Devices of the Indonesian Ministry of Health Arianti Anaya and CEO of Bio Farma Honesti Basyir were present as resource persons in the CEO Lives Series discussion guided by the moderator of Kompas journalist Evy Rachmawati ( left) in the series of Kompas 100 CEO Forum with the theme "Healthcare Industry Post Pandemic" at Plataran Patio, Jakarta, Wednesday (10/11/2021).

Meanwhile, Eka Hospital Group's chief operating officer, Rina Setiawati, said: “The most important thing is the transformation of the way of thinking so that it is not fragmented. All parties must have the same thoughts and vision so that policies are more appropriate.”

According to the president director of state owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma, Honesti Basyir, the nation needs mastery of technology along with the improvement in the capacity of healthcare facilities and competence of human resources to accelerate the pace of achieving independence in the health sector. Apart from meeting domestic needs, it is also necessary to strengthen the competitiveness in the global market.

"If you are not able to master technology, the industry will not survive. So, Bio Farma is trying to master vaccine development technology. After producing vaccines based on in-activated viruses, we will develop vaccines with other platforms," he said.

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The chief commercial officer of healthcare company Sehat Q, Andrew Sulistya, said the pandemic had considerably increased the use of digital health services. Telemedicine is not only used during the pandemic, but is also expected to become a trend in the future and at the same time, it can help overcome the gap in health access.

Rina said digitalization gave people easy access to health services. Meanwhile, at least 60,000 Indonesians went abroad for medical treatment with total spending of $1.9 billion a year.

This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.