Jakarta, IO – The Indonesian health system faces significant challenges. Only 17% of healthcare expenses are spent on prevention, while 67% goes to treatment. Exacerbating the financial burden, no fewer than two million citizens go abroad for medical treatment, evidently mistrusting locally-available hospitals and doctors.
Taking these and other factors into account, our Ministry of Health has initiated the Biomedical and Genome Science Initiative (BGSI), an innovation that expedites Indonesia leapfrogging into an era of precision medicine. This program develops treatments based on technology that collects genetic information (genomes), such as viruses and bacteria, from both humans and common pathogens. The discipline is commonly known as “Whole Genome Sequencing” (WGS).
“WGS development is in line with biotechnological transformation in bio-surveillance, the health service activities meant to improve detection of pathogens and the efficacy of treatment, as the same drugs may generate different reactions from different patients. BGSI does not collect data just for sequencing purposes, but to help improve medical treatment, by providing reliable, precision treatment,” declared BGSI Co-Founder Ririn Ramadhany, Ph.D, in the “Know BGSI Better” webinar held in Jakarta, Tuesday (27/6/2023).
We need to remember that the Indonesian archipelago has relatively untapped rich diversity in all aspects. For example, there are more than 1,340 recognized ethnic groups in Indonesia, but we only have limited data on the genetic variation of the Indonesia population; we are limited by a lack of consolidated Indonesian bio-sample collections to be used in drug development.
“Using this technology, we can perform precise screening of viral diseases; cancers; diabetes; rare diseases or genomic disorders, reproductive and neonatal health; cardiovascular, brain and neurogenerative diseases, as well as beauty and wellness,” Ririn said.