TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo invited all related parties to carry out massive reform of the national health system in his opening speech of the annual meeting of the Indonesian Pharmacists Association, Thursday, November 5, 2020.

The reform includes pharmaceutical independence that is expected to be achieved soon. “We know that around 90 percent of drug and raw materials still rely on imports. This surely wastes foreign exchange, increases the current account deficit, and hinders local pharmaceutical industry to grow,” said the President as broadcasted on the President Secretariat’s YouTube channel on Thursday, November 5, 2020.

Widodo argued that independence in the medicine and medical equipment industry should be set as a priority and jointly executed in extraordinary ways amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has generated a sense of crisis in the pharmaceutical sector to drive research activities, develop innovations, revitalize the pharmaceutical raw material industry, and strengthen the structure of the national pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

“Indonesia’s wealth of biodiversity must be used as the basic capital to revive the pharmaceutical industry and strengthen community resilience in the health sector. Phytopharmaca (herbal medicines) also need to be facilitated to pass clinical trials and standardization as promotive and preventive treatment options,” Jokowi explained.

The revival of the national pharmaceutical industry, he went on, was expected to simultaneously boost the national economy, both those working in the upstream and downstream industries, and improve the welfare of farmers and MSMEs.

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