Airlangga Ensures Adequate Domestic Medical And Pharmaceutical Equipment

Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Airlangga Hartarto. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The government has decided to increase the expenditure budget in the 2020 State Budget by IDR 405.1 trillion. The Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto confirmed that the additional budget was prioritized to support the health sector.

According to Airlangga, IDR 75 trillion from the additional APBN budget is allocated for medical personnel and health care expenditures. An amount of Rp.65.8 trillion is used for spending on health care such as medical devices, personal protective equipment (PPE), rapid tests, reagents. Including, for health facilities and infrastructure as well as support for human resources (HR).

Furthermore, IDR 5.9 trillion is designated as a special incentive for central medical personnel of IDR 1.3 trillion and IDR 4.6 trillion for regional medical personnel.

Airlangga said he had also ensured that the availability of medical devices in the country was adequate. Meanwhile, for PPE, there are 28 producing companies that have a production capacity of up to 17.36 million pieces per month.

Regarding completeness such as gowns or surgical gowns, said Airlangga, five companies produced them domestically with a capacity of 508,800 pieces per month.

"The company has been exporting so far and can meet national needs," he said in a video conference with journalists, in Jakarta, Wednesday, April 1.

Meanwhile, related to the need for pharmaceuticals and phyto-pharmacy, said Airlangga, Indonesia has national pharmaceutical companies, both state-owned and multinational companies that can produce medicines needed domestically.

"As much as 76 percent of the national drug demand has been able to be met by the domestic pharmaceutical industry. The remaining 24 percent is patent and high-tech drugs which still have to be imported," he said.

There are 206 pharmaceutical companies, consisting of four state-owned companies such as PT Kimia Farma Tbk, PT Indofarma Tbk, PT Biofarma Tbk, and PT Phapros Tbk. As well as 178 private pharmaceutical industries and 24 other multinational companies.