16 Indonesian Medical Device Companies Appear In Arab Health 2024, Showcase Quality Products

Director General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation Equipment and Electronics, Taufiek Bawazier (right). (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Industry)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) facilitated 16 domestic medical device companies to appear at the 2024 Arab Health Exhibition at the Dubai World Trade Center from January 29 to February 1, 2024.

This is done because Indonesian medical device products have enormous potential to be marketed abroad.

"Through participation in the 2024 Arab Health event, the national medical device industry has the opportunity to expand its export market to a number of United Arab Emirates (UAE) countries," said Director General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation Equipment and Electronics (ILMATE) Taufiek Bawazier in a written statement received by VOI, Tuesday, January 30.

Taufiek hopes that this opportunity can be utilized as well as possible to promote products of domestically made medical devices with export quality. "So, in the end, it can encourage the growth of the manufacturing industry and the national economy," he said.

In front of the delegates and participants of the 2024 Arab Health, Taufiek revealed, currently the strength of the domestic medical device industry has been supported by 150 companies that are members of the Indonesian Medical Device Manufacturers Association (ASPAKI).

These domestic industries have been able to produce quality medical devices, such as ventilators (with TKDN reaching 58 percent), hospitality furniture (TKDN 68 percent), to medical apparel (TKDN 92 percent).

In the future, the Ministry of Industry encourages the domestic medical device industry to produce high-tech-based products, such as electronic devices, orthopedic implants and radiology devices.

To achieve this target, there are several steps that need to be taken, such as ensuring the availability of raw materials, mastery of technology and innovation and developing R&D medical devices in the hope of creating a research-based medical device ecosystem.

"Regarding raw materials, we are trying to encourage producers of steel, plastic and rubber raw materials to produce medical grade products for the domestic medical device industry as also listed in the 2015-2035 RIPIN," he said.

Then, as an effort to improve the competitiveness and technology of the domestic medical device industry, the Ministry of Industry has played an active role in developing the Center of Excellence (CoE) for Medical Devices in Yogyakarta by collaborating universities and industries in R&D for medical device innovation products.

"We are also trying to formulate P3DN regulations that are more friendly to industry players by including R&D elements, so that in the future business actors can optimize domestic market absorption, especially for markets with government financing," he concluded.

For your information, Arab Health is an annual international exhibition of health products that have been held for 48 years in Dubai.

This exhibition is one of the biggest events featuring various medical device products in the world, which in 2023 was attended by around 110,000 visitors from 180 countries. In addition, there were more than 3,600 conference participants and business forums.