VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta.  Indonesia's National Narcotics Agency (BNN) announced on Thursday that it has uncovered six drug cases involving a Malaysia-Madura drug ring, and arrested 14 suspects.

From the suspects, BNN officers seized 87.4 kg of crystal methamphetamine, 400.18 kg of marijuana, 35,915 ecstasy pills, and several door closer boxes, which were allegedly used to conceal the drugs.

The suspects were picked up from six locations during raids that the agency launched in February and March this year, BNN head Coms.Gen.Petrus Reinhard Golose said.

Five of the 14 suspects were arrested at Soekarno Hatta International Airport's Terminal 3 parking area this week, Golose told journalists at a press briefing in Jakarta.

The suspects, identified by their initials YP, MD, SM, DS, and AN, allegedly tried to smuggle 2.5 kg of crystal meth concealed inside door closer packs.

Nine other suspects were nabbed in Bogor (West Java), Jagakarsa (South Jakarta), Tanjung Pura (Langkat district, North Sumatra), Langsa (Aceh), and Tangerang (Banten), he informed.

Domestic and transnational drug dealers view Indonesia as a potential market on account of its vast population and millions of drug users.

This has dragged the nation into a state of emergency over narcotics trade and abuse. Drug trade in the country is valued at nearly Rp66 trillion.

Data indicates that people from all societal levels are falling prey to drugs in the country irrespective of their socio-economic and professional backgrounds.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which struck the country on March 2, 2020, drug lords have continued to pose a serious threat on account of rampant drug trafficking even amid the health crisis.

Since his first leadership term, President Joko Widodo has constantly reminded the people of the serious repercussions of drug consumption on Indonesia.

While inaugurating a grand mosque in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on January 20, 2015, the head of state had cautioned that at least 50 people were dying of drug use daily. The statistics included those who failed to get rehabilitated.

According to the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), Indonesia had more than 3.3 million drug users in 2017.

The drug users belonged to the 10-59 age group, and the percentage of teenagers falling prey to drug addiction stood at 24-28 percent, according to the BNN.

As per information on the agency's official website, Indonesians in the age group of 15-35 years are at the highest risk of drug abuse.

To support their drug-trafficking networks in the country, drug lords are dragging not just people in their 30s into drug rings, but even those in their 20s. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has approved COVID-19 drug Avifavir for emergency use on coronavirus patients.

"It's true that BPOM has issued EUA for the product in question," BPOM spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccinations, Lucia Riski Andalusia, confirmed via text here on Thursday afternoon.

Avifavir obtained emergency license number EUA2158200117A1 from BPOM on March 17, 2021, she informed.

In a written statement, BPOM said Avifavir claims to kill the virus within an average duration of four days under standard care. Meanwhile, the new variant of the virus can be paralyzed within nine days, the drug’s developers have claimed, BPOM added.

In addition, the BPOM stated, the drug's efficacy has been shown to be more than 80 percent. The clinical study results also show that the drug can be safely consumed by all age groups, it said.

Avifavir is claimed to be the first Russian-manufactured drug that has been approved to treat coronavirus infections. It is also the first favipiravir-based drug in the world to be approved for the treatment of COVID-19, BPOM said.

In its statement, BPOM informed that since the beginning of June, 2020, Avifavir has been supplied to all regions of Russia and 15 countries around the world. Indonesia has been the first Asian country to register for the drug.

A press release from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) stated that Avifavir has been registered in Indonesia under an expedited procedure, based on data obtained during the second and third phase clinical trials.

According to the RDIF report, the trial involved 460 patients and was conducted according to good clinical practices (GCP), a quality standard for international clinical trials involving human subjects, from April to September, 2020 at 30 special facilities across Russia.

Based on the research results, Avifavir has shown high efficacy in the treatment of patients infected with the coronavirus, it said. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin on Thursday shared the government's strategy for building a resilient health system for dealing with outbreaks.

"In every pandemic, the strategy for us to be able to deal with it is to reduce the rate of transmission through four strategies recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO)," he said while making a presentation at a webinar on ‘Indonesian Health Resilience and Independence’ on Thursday.

The webinar was organized by the board of trustees of the University of Indonesia (MWA-UI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Research and Technology/Indonesian Research and Innovation Agency (Kemenristek/BRIN).

The four strategies recommended by the WHO include behavioral change, diagnostic strategies, vaccinations, and patient care, the minister informed.

The behavior change strategy involves enforcement of health protocols in the community, including washing hands, maintaining distance, and wearing masks, he said.

The next strategy is to set up a good diagnostic infrastructure to identify patients, he added.

"Unfortunately, this (diagnostic infrastructure) is a bit difficult to measure as we need a fairly sophisticated technology. Meanwhile, testing technology and quarantine mechanisms have existed since the Black Death era," he remarked.

Furthermore, he also emphasized that the government has continued to expedite the vaccination program through the provision of service infrastructure.

"We have to build infrastructure so that (health services) can be fast," said Sadikin.

He said the strategies of behavior change, diagnosis, and vaccination are health defense systems, which are currently being applied to healthy people.

Meanwhile, the last strategy, which involves care, applies to people who have been exposed to the disease, he added.

The treatment strategy involves provision of health service facilities and infrastructure for patient recovery, he stated.

“We have prepared enough beds and expert doctors from all over the country," the minister said. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. The COVID-19 pandemic has built momentum for improving the health service system, and particularly to achieve self-reliance in drugs and medical equipment production, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has said.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has given us a valuable lesson about the importance of strengthening our health service system, particularly in conducting 3Ts — testing, tracing, and treatment," he said during a web seminar on health resilience and self-reliance on Thursday.

COVID-19 transmission can be controlled more quickly and easily if public health service posts (puskemas) that act as first-level health facilities have sufficient facilities, he added.

"The 3Ts can be easily carried out if we have sufficient first-level health facilities to control transmission,” he said.

The pandemic has also made the nation aware of the need for Indonesia becoming self-reliant in supplying healthcare workers, medicines, vaccines, and medical equipment, and conducting research, he observed.

Indonesia is still facing uneven distribution of healthcare workers, particularly in the less fortunate, outermost and outlying areas, he pointed out.

"The Indonesia Health Profile Report 2019 shows that 19.7 percent of puskesmas are running short of doctors, and 65.6 percent of puskesmas have no complete preventive and promotive workers,” Amin said.

Indonesia is also unable to meet demand for raw materials for the production of drugs and vaccines. Nearly 90 percent of the raw materials are still being imported, he added. (Antaranews)