VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) launched 55 products developed by Indonesian researchers to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Today, we are proud to see that with our own hands, we can make products that we need," President Jokowi remarked at the launch of innovative products for handling the COVID-19 pandemic held through teleconference in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The products were developed by the Consortium of Research and Innovation for COVID-19.

Research and Technology Minister/Head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Bambang Brodjonegoro was among the attendees at the launch to commemorate National Awakening Day.

At the launch, the president introduced nine products that are ready for mass production. The products include the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test kit to diagnose COVID-19 transmission and rapid test kit to detect antibody responses to coronavirus.

Jokowi revealed that the consortium had produced 100 thousand rapid test kits and PCR test kits respectively.

The third product is the ventilator used for those suffering from breathing problems developed by the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) in cooperation with some universities and industry.

"I have seen emergency ventilator developed by BPPT, ITB (Bandung Institute of technology), UI (university of Indonesia), UGM (Gadjah Mada University), and PT Dharma, PT Poly Jaya. They have begun producing the ventilator," Jokowi noted.

The other products are the immunomodulator, Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect COVID-19, convalescent plasma, mobile laboratory with Bio-Safety Level-2, Autonomous UVC Mobile Robot (AUMR), and Purifying Respirator.

Jokowi expressed hope that development of the products would reduce dependence on the imports of healthcare products, for which continuous research is deemed necessary.

"This must be continued to enable mass production to meet the domestic demand as well as exports," he added. (ANTARA)