Member Of The House Of Representatives Visits Sido Muncul Factory, Irwan Hidayat Proposes That The Government Research For Drug Plant Toxisity Tests

JAKARTA - Member of Commission IX DPR RI visited the PT Industri Jamu and Farmasi Sido Muncul Tbk Factory in Klepu, Semarang, Central Java on Friday, September 12. This visit aims to directly review the production process at the Sido Muncul factory and discuss strategic issues in the health and employment sectors.

Also attending the visit were Dr. H Edy Wuryanto, SKP, MKep, from the PDI-P faction of the Central Java electoral district III, Dr. Sihar PH Sitorus, BSBA, MBA, from the PDI-P faction of the North Sumatra II electoral district, Eko Kurnia Ningsih from the PDI-P faction of the Bengkulu electoral district, Ade Rezki Pratama, SE, MM, from the Gerindra faction of the West Sumatra II electoral district, Dr Arzetti Bilbina Setyawan, SE, MAP, from the PKB faction of the East Java I electoral district, as well as Dr H Muh Haris, SS, MSi, from the PKS Faction of the Central Java electoral district I.

Also present were BPJS Employment Supervisory Board member Subchan Gatot, Head of Central Java BPJS Regional Office-DIY Hesnypita, Expert Staff Minister for Inter-Institutional Relations, Ministry of Manpower Estirty Haryani, and Semarang Regent Ngesti Nugraha and their ranks.

On this occasion, Director of Sido Muncul, Irwan Hidayat explained the philosophy of his company as a scientific-based herbal medicine producer. Irwan emphasized that every Sido Muncul product passes clinical trials, including toxicity tests and efficacy tests, to ensure its safety and effectiveness.

"We are a scientific-based herbal medicine company. Our products are conducted clinical trials, phase 1 toxicity tests, phase 2 efficacy tests," said Irwan, quoted from the Beritasatu page.

As an effort to introduce herbal medicine to the medical world, Irwan admitted that he had held seminars 53 times in various medical faculties. This step aims to make doctors understand and can combine herbal medicines with pharmaceutical drugs for more optimal treatment.

Irwan also hopes to be specially invited by Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives to present his strategic ideas. He highlighted several challenges faced by the herbal medicine industry, such as product claims that are only limited to three indications: aches, windfall, and deep heat.

However, Irwan said he agreed with this restriction. According to him, claims beyond that, such as for severe illness, must be supported by strong scientific evidence. He sees the great potential of herbal medicines as a companion to western medicines, especially for long-term diseases.

"For example, if people take drugs for cerebral surgery, we have products to smooth blood vessels in the brain. Or diabetes, if the west drug works in the urinary tract, the herbal products work in the digestive tract," explained Irwan.

Irwan also suggested that the government allocate a special budget to conduct toxicity test research on medicinal plants. According to Irwan, currently of the approximately 28,000 types of medicinal plants in Indonesia, only about 350 types are permitted by BPOM to be used as raw materials. This limitation hinders the innovation and utilization of Indonesia's natural wealth.

"The toxicity test is important. If we pass, the material can be included in the list of uses at BPOM. If every year there are 25 or 50 plants studied, in 10 years we can have 500 new ingredients," he explained.

Irwan added that the cost of toxicity testing is relatively low, which is around Rp. 200 million per one type of plant. Although he has proposed this idea since 10 years ago, he admits that he has not received a response from the government.

He hopes that members of the DPR can urge the government to budget for this research fund.

"Just research on materials, not researching disease," he added.

In addition to innovation in the health sector, Irwan also explained the philosophy of his company regarding employment. He considers employees as the main stakeholders, even above consumers.

"The competitions we hold are not productivity competitions, not efficiency competitions, but singing competitions, sports competitions. The important thing is that our target is happiness, because I think our first stakeholder is employees," concluded Irwan.

Through this visit, Irwan hopes that the members of the council can better understand the position and potential of the herbal medicine industry in Indonesia, so that they can provide input and help encourage regulations that support industrial development in the future.

During a visit to the Sido Muncul factory, a member of Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives from the PDI-P faction of the Central Java electoral district, Edy Wuryanto expressed his admiration for Sido Muncul.

"I am very impressed with the technology used, the cleanliness of the production process, including the hospitality of the employees. Hopefully Sido Muncul will continue to grow," said Edy.

Edy also expressed his admiration for the production capacity of Tolak Angin which reaches an average of 4 million per day. He had told his experience while visiting the Philippines in 2014, where he found that Tolak Angin was being sold in small shops.

"This shows that Sido Muncul has always shown quality in maintaining Indonesian herbal products that can compete abroad," said Edy.

One of the main agendas of Commission IX is to encourage the government so that traditional medicines, especially phytopharmaca which have been clinically tested, can be used as alternative therapy in health facilities. The hope is that herbal products that have been clinically tested can become alternative therapies in health facilities such as health centers, FKTP (First Level Health Facilities), to hospitals.

"Therefore, it takes support from companies such as Sido Muncul to start entering the area, so that this typical Indonesian therapy can reduce health financing which has been considered expensive," explained Edy.