Gov’t Aims for 60 Percent Local Components in Medical Devices Production

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin heads to the Limited Cabinet Meeting on Public Activity Restrictions at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Tuesday (08/23). (Photo by: PR Office of Cabinet Secretariat /Agung)

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin affirmed that the Government aimed to use 60 percent local components in the production of domestic medical devices.

“For now, we are still using some foreign components. It is fine, but we cannot do this for too long. We want 50 – 60 percent of medical devices and medicines to be developed and manufactured domestically from upstream industry to downstream industry,” the Minister said, as quoted from the official website of Ministry of Health, on Monday (08/29).

Budi admitted that today, the medical devices in Indonesia, be it the final products or the raw materials, are still dominated by imported products. Transaction for imported medical devices during 2019 – 2020 reached 88 percent, while the transaction for local medical devices only reached 12 percent. Therefore, the Government carries out transformation in health system sustainability that focuses on, among others, the development of domestically-produced medical devices in order to minimize our dependency on imported medical devices.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, it was difficult to find face masks and personal protective equipment (PPE). In order to provide medical devices domestically, we carry out health system sustainability transformation, as mentioned in the third pillar of the health transformation. So, when pandemic occurs, we will not rely on other countries,” he said.

Throuh the transformation, Minister Budi expressed optimism that Indonesia will be able to produce medical devices for national use gradually. Although, at the moment, Indonesia can only produce low-tech medical devices, he hopes that the local health industry will continue to grow in order to produce the high-tech ones.

“Now we have started the production. If it is possible, all devices will be manufactured locally. We start with bed for patient, infuse pump, surgical table, bed monitor. Previously, we were difficult to find face masks and PPE. So, we start it step by step,” he said.

Furthermore, the Minister also hopes supports from the producers and micro, small, and medium enterprises to realize self-sufficiency in health sector.

Besides improving the quality and increasing capacity of domestic health devices, Minister of Health also calls for improving domestic medical devices purchase. This commitment is in parallel with Instruction of the President of the Republic of Indonesia Number 2 of 2022 in order to make “Proud of Local Products Movement” (Gernas BBI) a success.

“Next year, Bapak President demands that domestic medical devices purchase increase to 95 percent. We hope that in the future, more companies can produce local medical devices that highly use local components,” he said. (PR Office of Ministry of Health/UN)(AW/MUH)