One of the main outcomes of the G20 Indonesia Presidency is the strengthening of the global health architecture. This is Indonesia's leadership role in helping to determine the direction of world economic policies as well as concrete steps for world recovery due to Covid-19.
Indonesia's presidency at the G20 Summit focused on three priority sectors which are the keys to a strong and sustainable recovery: strengthening the global health architecture, digital transformation, and energy transition.
“The process of restructuring the architecture of global health resilience must be inclusive, and adhere to the principles of solidarity, justice, transparency and equality,” said President Joko Widodo at the G20 Summit which discussed issues related to global economy and health, Saturday (30/10)
The President also encouraged the developing countries to be empowered as part of the solution. According to the President, health capacity gaps cannot be allowed and developing countries need partnerships that empowered. Developing countries must also become part of the global health supply chain, including manufacturing and research center.
"This can only happen if investment in the health industry is increased, research cooperation and technology transfer are strengthened, and access to production raw materials is expanded for developing countries," said the President.
Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin also emphasized that the global health architecture was further strengthened by three health sector sub agendas at the Indonesian Presidency at the G20, which are in line with the 6 pillars of the transformation of the national health sector.
The three health sector sub agendas are: building the resilience of the global health system, aligning global health protocol standards, and developing a global manufacturing and knowledge center for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
As for the six pillars are: the transformation of primary services, the transformation of referral services, the transformation of the health resilience system, the transformation of the health financing system, the transformation of human resources, and the transformation of the health technology system.
The President Director of Argon Group, Krestijanto Pandji, stated that Argon Group’s end-to-end competencies with more than 42 years of experience in the health industry as the distributor of pharmaceutical and health products, has contributed to the 3rd pillar of the transformation of national health, especially the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors.
“Our advanced platform consists of 33 branches, 4 representative offices, 1 national distribution center, and 33 warehouses as well as more than 800 field force and 2,388 professionals. They manage 6,000 SKUs to serve more than 70,100 customers which consist of hospitals, clinics and pharmacy facilities," said Krestijanto.
As a following step, in the 58th National Health Day (HKN) in 2022, Argon Group was participating in the Exhibition of Domestic Health Technology and Innovation Products in Support of Health System Transformation on 3rd-5th of November 2022, at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition BSD, Tangerang, Banten, as part of the 58th National Health Day (HKN) 2022.
The Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, the Minister of Health, and the Deputy Minister of Health stopped by the Argon Group booth in Hall 3 during the HKN exhibition review session. On this occasion, they discussed the Argon Group's contribution to creating products with high Domestic Component Level (TKDN) values and the commitment to manufacturing medical equipment domestically.
Since introducing medical device items under the Stardec brand in 2011, Argon Group, through PT Djembatan Dua, has envisioned self-sufficiency in domestic products. Argon Group is ready to enter the manufacturing business that produces medical devices supply. According to Mr. Krestijanto Pandji, the establishment of PT Deca Metric Medica (DMM) at Cikarang, West Java, in 2020, which will focus on producing domestic medical devices.
Argon Group also strengthens the 5th pillar of the transformation of national health: the transformation of human resources, with joining the University of Indonesia (UI) Vocational Expo 2022 on 9-10 November 2022 at the UI Hall. Krestijanto said that Argon Group saw a demographic bonus in Indonesia where 70% of the population is of productive age with a total workforce of 144 million people as a momentum to strengthen human resources.
"Argon Group is committed to developing high-quality human resources that will improve national health resilience," Mr. Krestijanto continued.
Moreover, Argon Group also strengthens the 6th pillar of the transformation of national health: the transformation of the health technology system. Argon Group answered the growing needs of the online market by developing its business through a new subsidiary, namely PT Karsa Inti Tuju Askara (KITA).
KITA expands public access to the needs of medicine through a service product called GoApotik, a pharmacy aggregator that aims to bring together official pharmacy partners to meet the needs of medicines and vitamins that can be accessed directly by the public online.
"KITA has the advantages of a digital platform and focus on selling medicines that can be accessed throughout Indonesia through more than 4,000 pharmacy partners," said KITA Commissioner, Wimala Widjaja.
The future challenges in the health sector will not get any lighter. Therefore, it takes the commitment of all components of the nation to collaborate in dealing the health issues in the future.