Independent Health, Erick Thohir Projects Indonesia To Be Able To Produce 50 Percent Of Drug Raw Materials

Minister of SOEs, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of SOEs)

JAKARTA - Indonesia is committed to being independent in the health sector. To make it happen, the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir targets Indonesia to be able to meet the needs of medicinal raw materials as much as 50 percent in the near future.

Erick said that 90 percent of the need for medicinal raw materials is still met by imports from other countries. So that this step will be accelerated so that the national pharmaceutical industry can meet the needs of its own raw materials.

"This is a raw material for medicine that one of us has learned can not be 50 percent fulfilled by made in Indonesia," he said in a virtual dialogue in Jakarta, Friday, July 30.

According to Erick, one of the state-owned companies that is developing the petrochemical industry is PT Pertamina (Persero). This breakthrough is also in accordance with the direction of President Joko Widodo alias Jokowi who wants the development of industrial downstreaming.

Furthermore, said Erick, the petrochemical industry needs to be developed. This is because the industry will produce raw materials for the manufacture of paracetamol.

Previously, the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) was determined to participate in realizing Indonesia's independence in the health sector. The strategic steps taken include the implementation of a 35 percent import substitution policy in 2022, one of which is supported through the program for Increasing the Use of Domestic Products (P3DN).

"In accordance with the direction of President Joko Widodo, we must transform into an independent country in the health sector, both for medical devices and medicines," said Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, quoted from the Setkab website, Friday, July 30.

Agus emphasized that his party had encouraged the pharmaceutical and medical device industry sectors in the country to increase their productivity. Moreover, these two sectors have been included in the Making Indonesia 4.0 roadmap, which will be a priority in future development.

"In order to strengthen the structure of the domestic industry and reduce dependence on imported products, we encourage optimization of the value of the domestic content level (TKDN)," he said.