Jokowi: Don't Import Medical Devices Anymore, We Must Stop

President Jokowi (Setkab's Twitter)

JAKARTA - President Jokowi has high hopes behind the commencement of laying the groundwork for the Bali International Hospital. Indonesian citizens not only do not go abroad for treatment. But Indonesia also has to stop importing drugs.

"And I also hope that what the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises said earlier that not only hospitals, but also drugs, but also medicinal raw materials, do not let us import more medical equipment, medicines, medicinal raw materials. We have to stop to import those goods again and we do it, we produce them ourselves in our country," said the president in Bali, Monday, December 27.

{The construction of the Bali International Hospital will be in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic from America. Bali will also become a Health SEZ (Special Economic Zone).

"We hope there won't be any more, if this happens, no more of our people, our people who go abroad to get health services," he said.

"Because we know that every year there are approximately two million of our people who go abroad to get health services, be it to Singapore, be it to Malaysia, be it to Japan, be it to America, and to other places, and we lost IDR 97 trillion because of that. So I really appreciate what has been initiated and this will begin today, initiated by the Minister of SOEs, Pak Erick Thohir, and his entire team," he said.

On the same occasion, SOE Minister Erick Thohir said to suppress imports of medicinal raw materials, BUMN Indofarma would focus on developing the herbal industry.

Erick Thohir assessed that Indonesia has nature and culture that supports the development of the herbal industry.

"We have our own herbal industry, sir, indeed we have nature and have a culture regarding this herbal industry. Therefore, our Indofarma will focus on developing the herbal industry rather than treatment," said Erick Thohir.

According to him, currently the BUMN Ministry has consolidated the BUMN health cluster. This is to create an ecosystem that can strengthen health resilience and independence.

“We know this ecosystem is the key. If we stand alone, in the end of course we will not have a unified strength to withstand the waves that occur in the future, "said Erick Thohir.

The Ministry of SOEs has also merged Bio Farma as a holding company that oversees Kimia Farma, Indofarma, and a number of hospitals under the Indonesia Healthcare Corporation (IHC). With that, Bio Farma is expected to be able to open up new opportunities in the health industry such as the vaccination industry.

"Therefore, we are now trying to work with various parties, whether it is an mRNA vaccine or a recombinant protein, which we are still exploring today," said Erick Thohir.