Jakarta, The Indonesia Post – The Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that the Indonesian government was cooperating with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to develop the pharmaceutical and medical device industry.
“Today, we will start the collaboration of the pharmaceutical and medical device industry with the UAE,” said Minister of Health Budi in a written statement received in Jakarta, Tuesday.
The statement was made by Minister of Health Budi after meeting with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Health Policy and Licensing, Ministry of Health and Prevention of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Amin Al Ameeri at the Bussiness Forum on the visit of MOHAP EUA.
The Minister of Health said that one of the main focuses of the cooperation between the two countries is to build more research and distributed production capacity on vaccines, therapies and diagnostics (VTD), which will provide greater equity and access for each country when the next pandemic hits.
This is because entering the third year of the pandemic, the world is still facing COVID-19 and the threat of its new variant.
For this reason, he said, access to VTDs and the improvement of the health care system are vital components that need to be strengthened to anticipate the surge in COVID-19 cases and end the acute phase of the pandemic.
With Indonesia’s position as home to more than five vaccine manufacturers, 220 pharmaceutical manufacturers, and more than 650 medical device manufacturers, most of which have been recognized in global standards, with experience in exporting products to all over the world, the Minister of Health is optimistic that Indonesia has enormous potential to help meet the global supply of pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
The Minister of Health hopes that this collaboration can be a way to strengthen the global health architecture that is resilient against the threat of health disasters in the future.
“We believe bilateral partnerships are one way to achieve better health care, a more resilient health system, and contribute to global efforts in dealing with pandemics in the future,” said the Minister of Health.
The Minister of Health also hopes that this collaboration will be a great opportunity and a good start in the framework of strengthening the global health architecture which was under pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He hoped that the cooperation in the health sector between the two countries could continue to be improved.
“I believe and hope that through this collaboration, it can open up huge opportunities for strengthening the health systems of the two countries,” said the Minister of Health. (ojn/bbs)
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