Increasing Medical Device Industry, Indonesia Able To Produce 18 Million PPE Per Month

PPE illustration. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health revealed that there is an increase in the number of industries producing medical devices, especially manufacturers of masks, personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand sanitizers in the midst of the corona virus pandemic or COVID-19 in Indonesia.

The increase in the number of industries is in line with the large demand for medical devices. This is because the area of the spread of COVID-19 is increasingly widespread and the number of positive patients continues to increase every day. With the increase in the medical equipment industry, Indonesia is considered capable of producing 18 million PPE per month.

The Director General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices for the Ministry of Health, Dra Engko Sosialine Magdalene, said that the increase in mask, PPE and hand sanitizer producers was also due to the fact that many companies had switched functions to produce these products.

"There is a significant increase in the number of producers as of April 4 compared to data as of February 29, 2020. For example, mask manufacturers have increased by 77 percent. Previously 22 industries, now 39 industries," said Engko, in a virtual meeting with Commission IX of the DPR, Wednesday , April 8th.

Engko said the highest increase occurred for PPE producers, which rose by 567 percent. Previously there were only three industries, but currently there are 20 recorded industries.

Then, continued Engko, an increase of 186 percent occurred in the hand sanitizer manufacturing industry. Currently there are 103 industries, from the previous only 36 industries.

Engko responded positively to the increasing trend in the number of these industries. Because, he said, the more producers will have an impact on meeting demand in the context of handling the COVID-19.

The Ministry of Health, he said, has also provided relaxation to imports of medical devices through the Minister of Health Regulation Number 7 of 2020 and Kepmenkes Number 218 of 2020.

"Where the entry of medical equipment for the prevention of COVID-19 does not require a distribution permit and a special access scheme recommendation from the Ministry of Health. However, all submissions are addressed to the Task Force for Handling COVID-19," he said.

Not only that, relaxation is also applied to the domestic medical equipment industry. "Domestic relaxation is to anticipate the diversification interest of the textile industry to participate in meeting PPE needs. So we are in the process of relaxing the domestic PPE production in this case exploring the application of distribution permits," he said.

Able to produce 18 million PPE per month

Director General of the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Textile Industry (IKFT) of the Ministry of Industry, Muhammad Khayam, said that the domestic industry was able to produce supporting tools for handling COVID-19. One of them is the production of personal protective equipment (PPE) which can be produced using local raw materials.

"This is about masks with the materials we have, so this raw material support is available in the country. It can be used in addition to masks for PPE. Meltblown or spunbond to be used as mask material. This is PPE with the capacity we can produce per month. 18 million, "he said.

The number of industries capable of producing PPE has also increased to 36 textile companies from only 6 companies previously. So, Indonesia can make 18 million of these masks. Later, this domestic industrial production PPE will be distributed by BNPB to support the work of medical personnel.

Khayam said, each week the production will reach 3 million. Meanwhile, production has also started this week with a target of 2 million masks. "Next week between 2 and 3 million," he said.

The Ministry of Industry, said Khayam, has made roadmaps for the drug industry in the future regarding the availability of raw materials. Because, this is indeed ordered in Presidential Instruction No. 6/2016.

"So we are preparing, that in the next five years it will decrease (import dependence) from 90 percent to 80 percent first. So we are making a roadmap for the availability of raw materials in the future. We still import a lot of raw materials including vitamins. This is our concern," he said .

Khayam also confirmed the availability of gloves for medical personnel. The Indonesian rubber gloves industry is very superior, especially in terms of production capacity.

"Our rubber gloves are very superior. Nearly 8.5 billion pcs per year. The concentration is in Medan so we can also use this for the availability of our medical industry. Hopefully this will help the availability of medical gloves," he said.

Develop Ventilator Production

Khayam revealed that one of the innovations the Ministry of Industry is currently pushing is the production of ventilators. According to him, in making this happen, his party collaborates with the Ministry of Health and domestic universities which have developed innovations in the field of ventilator manufacturing.

"Later in the afternoon we plan to discuss this and this is now being tested again at the Ministry of Health. So hopefully with these innovations we will support them to develop and cooperate with our domestic industry," he said.

In principle, in dealing with COVID-19, said Khayam, the Ministry of Industry encourages the medical device industry sector to be able to support the availability of PPE, masks, medicines, and later ventilators if they pass the test at the Ministry of Health.

Khayam said that these tools were needed and should be of concern, so that Indonesia would no longer depend on imports.

"That's the most important. When there is a very emergency we have to rely on imports, this will inevitably have many obstacles. Because other countries need the same thing even worse than us," he said.