JAKARTA - Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government is currently hunting for three kinds of drugs from abroad to be given to COVID-19 patients. This is done as an effort to meet domestic drug needs.
"We have identified that the supply of drugs with domestic manufacturers is still controlled. We are aware that there are imported medicines which are in tight supply globally," Budi said in an online press conference after holding a limited meeting with President Joko Widodo. (Jokowi) which was broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube, Friday, July 16.
There is also a drug that is currently being hunted by the government, one of which is Remdesivir imported from India, China, and Pakistan.
Budi said, the supply of these drugs globally is now quite difficult. Thus, the Ministry of Health requested assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to communicate with a number of Remdesivir-producing countries.
This is intended so that India reopens its export faucets for the drug Remdesivir.
"We have negotiated with the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Retno Marsudi) with assistance so that India can reopen its export faucets and this has started to enter 50 thousand vials this week. Later it will be gradually 50 thousand vials every week," said the former Deputy Minister of BUMN.
In addition, Indonesia has also communicated with the Chinese government to try to bring the drug to Indonesia.
The next drug that is hard to come by is Actemra, which is made by a company called Roche in Switzerland. Budi said that even globally, the drug is currently very difficult to obtain while the domestic stock has not been able to meet national needs.
"We have also spoken with the CEO of Roche and it is acknowledged that there is a tight global supply so that the current stock is still far from what we need," he explained.
To anticipate the scarcity of this therapeutic drug, the government plans to use another type that has similarities to Actemra from the United States. The reason is that when the country was hit by a wave of COVID-19, they had an abundant stock of medicines.
Lastly, the COVID-19 therapeutic drug that the government is looking for is Gammaraas. Budi said Gammaraas is a trademark of the IVig (intravenous immunoglobulin) drug category produced in China.
According to him, Indonesia currently needs a lot of Gammaraas drugs. Meanwhile, the government has brought in around 30 thousand vials.
"We need more. With the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we will continue to lobby with the Chinese government," explained Budi.
"So, we are currently pursuing the three imported drugs to be able to meet domestic needs," he concluded.
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