Rl, ASEAN to boost vaccine ecosystem, prepare against future pandemic

Such technology should not be monopolized, particularly in the health sector. It should be shared instead,

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government held a high-level forum on Wednesday to strengthen the ecosystem for medicines, diagnostics, and vaccines at the national and Southeast Asian scopes in a bid to improve preparedness for future pandemics.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said here on Wednesday that Indonesia, with a population of around 286 million people, needs a strong health ecosystem to ensure resilience in case of another pandemic, particularly if lockdowns disrupt global supply chains.

"Such technology should not be monopolized, particularly in the health sector. It should be shared instead," Sadikin stressed, highlighting the need to develop a similarly robust health ecosystem among neighboring countries with large populations.

He said that cooperation with countries such as Malaysia and Thailand would enable them to meet their domestic needs first while also supporting smaller countries in the region.

To achieve self-sufficiency in vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics, the ministry has sought support from the National Economic Council (DEN) to promote downstream industries and ensure that healthcare spending generates greater value for domestic industries.

"In terms of health spending, historically we have allocated more than 10 percent every year. Last year, it even reached 16 percent. However, not all of that spending contributes to growth in the domestic health sector, because the majority still goes toward imports," he explained.

Sadikin said that reliance on imports means much of Indonesia's healthcare expenditure contributes to the gross domestic product (GDP) of other countries. As an example of downstreaming opportunities, he cited paracetamol production.

Indonesia produces benzene, a key raw material, but lacks industries capable of processing it into intermediate products such as cumene and phenol before it can be manufactured into paracetamol.

He also highlighted blood products and their derivatives, including plasma, Factor VIII, and Factor IX. Despite its large population and significant potential for blood collection, Indonesia still imports many of these products, the minister pointed out.

Sadikin noted that Chairman of DEN Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan recently inaugurated a plasma processing facility, which is expected to begin operations in 2027 with a processing capacity of around 600 thousand liters annually, reducing Indonesia's dependence on imports.

On the same occasion, Pandjaitan said that strengthening the national health sector would provide tangible benefits to the public.

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Translator: Mecca Yumna Ning Prisie

Editor: M Razi Rahman

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