Chairman of the Covid-19 Research and Innovation Consortium, Prof. dr. Ali Ghufron Mukti, M.Sc., Ph.D., said the government has been pushing for the acceleration of handling the Covid-19 pandemic in the country since five months ago through the development of medicinal products and medical devices. The development of medicine and medical devices involves various universities, government agencies, communities, and industries. According to him, this development is expected to be one of the government’s efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
He appreciated UGM researchers who participated in developing several medical devices, such as a covid detection tool via exhalation or GeNose, a ventilator, to an antibody-based rapid test device.
In particular, he alluded to the matter of detection of covid from breaths; according to him, this is a pretty good result of innovation and is expected to replace the role of the PCR test later. “Hopefully, it can replace PCR. Three countries have developed it in this world, namely America, Israel, and Indonesia,” Ali Ghufron said in a webinar of the UGM FKKMK Health Innovation Exhibition on Thursday (17/9).
In connection with the development of Merah Putih vaccine, he said UGM and many other universities were also involved because the development of vaccines that the raw materials came from viruses that already exist in Indonesia is expected to encourage the nation’s independence in vaccine production. “We want population immunity to be built in a measured and systematic manner so that we must develop it,” he said.
He estimates that if each person receives two vaccine doses, at least 350 million vaccines will be needed. “If the average price is IDR 200 thousand, IDR 70 trillion is needed for the cost of vaccines,” he said.
While Prof. dr. Triwibowo, Ph.D., Sp.MK., a member of the antibody-based rapid test innovation development team from FKKMK UGM, said the rapid diagnostic tool developed by their team was the result of collaboration with UGM researchers and Airlangga University. “A rapid test tool for antibody-based non-PCR diagnosis so that it can be done more quickly in the field, provide advocacy to stakeholders, and can even carry out prevalence,” he said.
Even though it has started to be produced and tested in several places, according to him, the downstream process to the community is not easy due to regulatory and administrative problems. “Although there has been a relaxation of policies, the implementation in the field has not changed much,” he added.
Meanwhile, UGM Ventilator researcher, dr. Bowo Adiyanto, M.Sc., said that his party had succeeded in developing a ventilator for critical Covid-19 patients. According to him, the ventilator with the V-01 ICU Ventilator brand and helping patients still be able to breathe also works to adjust the patient’s ability to breathe. “This ventilator can provide breath assistance, and the working system can adjust the patient’s breath,” he said.
