Minister Of Health's Explanation About COVID-19 Therapeutic Drugs Supply And The Fact That In The Field Was Empty, Which Shocked Jokowi

President Jokowi checks antiviral drugs for treating COVID-19 patients at the Villa Duta Pharmacy, Bogor City (VIA Youtube Presidential Secretariat)

JAKARTA - Carrying a small paper with a list of antiviral drugs for treating COVID-19 patients to multivitamins, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) was shocked. The antiviral drug he was looking for at the Bogor City pharmacy was empty.

Jokowi immediately contacted the Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin asking why the stock of COVID-19 therapeutic drugs is difficult to obtain?

We're back to back. Minister of Health Budi once explained the additional supply of stock for COVID-19 therapeutic drugs.

In a virtual presentation at the DPR Commission IX working meeting, Tuesday, July 13 evening, the Minister of Health said the government had allocated additional supplies of COVID-19 therapeutic drugs in stages until the end of July 2021.

An additional supply of these drugs, including Azithromycin as much as 11.2 million more than the estimated need of 1.5 million more, Ivermectin as much as 6.2 million more than the estimated need of 1.7 million more, Oseltamivir as much as 5.7 million more than the estimated need 4,2 million.

Then Remdesivir as much as 1.4 million of the need of 1.6 million, Favipiravir as much as 8 million more than the need of 12 million more, IV Immunoglobulin as many as 73,660 of the need of 1.2 million more, and Tocilizumab (Actemra) as much as 3,800 of the total need of 60,162.

"We encourage the commitment of domestic and foreign industries to fulfill the supply of COVID-19 drugs. For Tocilizumab and IV Immunoglobulin, we encourage global producers (Actemra-Roche) to prioritize the supply of their products to Indonesia and additional supply alternatives from other manufacturers such as China, through the distribution channel. Special Access Scheme (SAS) and donations," he said.

For the needs of Remdesivir, said the Minister of Health, the increasing quota of imported products from India, Bangladesh, Egypt, and China is being pushed. Meanwhile, Favipiravir was accelerated and increased domestic production.

What is the reality on the ground?

Jokowi, in a video uploaded to the Presidential Secretariat's Youtube channel, did check a pharmacy in Bogor City, his name is Duta Villa.

But what Jokowi is looking for is not there. When you see comments on the Presidential Secretariat's Youtube channel, many have complained about the difficulty of getting COVID-19 therapeutic drugs.

Jokowi brought a small piece of paper. He read this paper when he asked one by one the antiviral drug he was looking for.

"I want to find an antiviral drug that is oseltamivir," Jokowi said in a video uploaded to the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube channel, Friday, July 23.

"It's empty, sir," said the employee.

"Not available?" Jokowi said and then reaffirmed by the pharmacy employee that the drug the president was looking for was not available.

"Then where do I look if I want to find it?" Jokowi said.

"Well, we also can't get the goods," replied the pharmacy employee.

"How long has it been without oseltamivir?" Jokowi asked.

"Oseltamivir is a generic one, sir. Yesterday there was still the Drufir brand. That's the patent but now it's vacant,” replied the pharmacy employee.

Even when Jokowi asked for a stock of Favipiravir, the Villa Duta pharmacy ran out of stock.

"Is vitamin d3 available?" Jokowi said.

Called Minister of Health 

Moving from the pharmacy, Jokowi immediately got into the car and called Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin. To Budi, Jokowi complained about running out of medicine at the pharmacy.

"Mr. Minister, I checked at the pharmacy in Bogor, I looked for the antiviral drug oseltamivir, there wasn't any. I looked for it again, the antiviral drug with favipiravir wasn't there either, it was empty. I looked for the antibiotic acetromicin, too. There wasn't any stock. It's been more than a week," Jokowi said to Budi by telephone.

Hearing this, the Minister of Health, Budi, said that he would check the availability of drugs. Not long after, Budi reported the availability of drugs at Kimia Farma Pharmacy, Bogor City.

"I have a record, we already have one online. I just checked. For example, for favipiravir at Kimia Farma Tajur Baru Pharmacy, there are 4,900, Kimia Farma Juanda 30 Pharmacy is 4,300, Kimia Farma in Semplak Bogor is 4,200," explained Budi.

"There are online data at the hospital, it can be seen by the city for Kimia Farma Pharmacy, Century, Guardian, K24," he added.

Jokowi said he would immediately check with the pharmacy that Budi mentioned. "Okay, I'll just go there, I'll buy it there," said Jokowi before hanging up the phone.

Jokowi does not want to believe it or just swallow the development of the policies that have been decided. Jokowi repeatedly checks in the field so that what has been programmed really works.

"(Because of that, red) why do I check in the field every work in detail. In detail sometimes it still misses, let alone not," said Jokowi in the 2021 National Education Day (Hardiknas) Podcast with Mendikbudristek Nadiem Makarim in early May 2021.