Having 44 Units, Minister Of Health Asks Japan To Help Indonesian Operators Maintain Vaccine Cooling Machines

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin (center) accompanied by the Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Kanasuki Kenji (right) and UNICEF Indonesia Deputy Representative Operations Ismail Kamil at JICT Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, Sunday, June 26. (ANTARA-Andi Firdaus).

JAKARTA - Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin asked the Japanese Government for assistance to improve operator competence in maintaining refrigerators or vaccine cooling machines in Indonesia.

"If you wish, it can help Indonesia conduct regular hearings on how to maintain the quality of cold chain operations throughout Indonesia. That will be very, very helpful," said the Minister of Health during a speech at the handover ceremony for the vaccine cooling machine assistance from the Japanese Government at JICT Tanjung Priok. , North Jakarta (Jakut), Sunday 26 June.

Budi appreciated the Japanese government's policy of distributing nearly 7 million doses of vaccine to help accelerate the COVID-19 vaccination program in Indonesia.

"I see that this is how the international community should work together. The pandemic is too big a problem to solve alone, it needs to work together," he said.

On that occasion, Budi told about the ability of operators in Indonesia to manage the supply of vaccine cold chains which is still very low. During his visit to a number of areas to review the operation of the vaccine storage room, two of the four available refrigeration machines were found to be malfunctioning.

"Our ability to maintain engine quality and operation is still low. I feel very sad if we have a large refrigerator for cold chain box, but it doesn't work," he said.

Budi said that the service life of a cooling machine generally ranges from three to four years, so a sufficient budget is needed to ensure that the machine is maintained for the long term.

The Minister of Health said that the Japanese people are very patient in caring for and maintaining the goods they have.

"I was in one of the work units when I was in Japan. How nice to see Japanese people, they take very good care of what they have," said Budi, who had worked as Information Technology Staff at IBM Asia Pacific, Tokyo, Japan (1988–1994). ).

According to Budi, the availability of logistics in the form of vaccine storage facilities contributes 15 percent to the country's preparation for winning the war against the pandemic.

Currently, Indonesia has around 44 units of ultra cold storage, which is a purchase transaction from UNICEF through the COVAX Facility. The tool has now been deployed to 34 provinces in Indonesia and is available at PT Bio Farma Bandung, West Java.

"So I hope for its help, can Japan help strengthen the health defense system in Indonesia so that when there is another war (pandemic), Indonesia has a 50 percent chance of winning the war in the next pandemic," he said.