The Problem Of The Origin Of PPE Which Turns Out To Be Indonesian Production

JAKARTA - The government brought in personal protective equipment (PPE) from China to be used by medical personnel while treating patients positive for the corona virus or COVID-19. Interestingly, the personal protective equipment is written as made in Indonesia or made in Indonesia.

One of those who know about it is the Governor of Central Java Ganjar Pranowo. He found out after checking the 10 thousand clothes for the medical personnel that he had received from the central government.

Almost all parts of the PPE packaging are filled with writing in Chinese characters. However, in the lower right corner of the package, there is an inscription made in Indonesia which means made in Indonesia.

"What is interesting is that this is taken from China, it turns out that this is made in Indonesia. This is an extraordinary product, hopefully this will be a lesson," said Ganjar, Tuesday, March 24.

Regardless of the origin of the manufacture of the personal protective equipment, the Central Java Provincial Government immediately distributed the clothes to dozens of hospitals that handled COVID-19 patients.

Chief Executive of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), Tulus Abadi, said it is likely that the personal protective equipment originating from China was the result of exports before the virus broke out.

"It could happen like that. PPE was made in Indonesia, when it was busy in Wuhan, Indonesia exporting to China might even help. Meanwhile, they (China) have now subsided and returned to Indonesia, which is busy, returned or resold Indonesia," he said. Sincere.

"Indonesia should have been able to read the situation and conditions. At that time, it should not have been exported but prioritized domestically," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Center for Data, Information and Public Relations of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Agus Wibowo, gave an explanation of the origin of the personal protective equipment.

Through his Twitter account, @ aw3126, he created a thread. He said that this personal protective equipment was produced in Indonesia for business reasons because of the low labor costs. However, when the COVID-19 outbreak hit, the government moved by negotiating with China.

For 2 days, I got a lot of media inquiries why the imported PPE has the words "Made in Indonesia" pic.twitter.com/5mT8bH2Gkm

- Agus Wibowo (@ aw3126) March 24, 2020

This was also proven by the findings of Customs that found personal protective equipment to be exported to Korea with official ownership status. However, because Indonesia was in need of personal protective equipment, negotiations were carried out and resulted in an agreement for the distribution of PPE of 50 percent.

"It could be PPE aid from China like that too, so do not be surprised if PPE aid from China or purchased in China but made in Indonesia," he said.