China’s Healthcare Companies Bet Big in Indonesia

Several Chinese medical equipment companies have started investing in Indonesia, marking a significant development in the country's healthcare sector. Virtue Diagnostics is one of them, and it has committed a substantial sum of US$10 million to establish an In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) plant. This facility will produce medical devices for examining human body specimens, such as blood, hair, etc. Virtue Diagnostics has commenced the construction of its plant in Cikarang, West Java, spanning an area of 12,200 square meters with a building size of 8,900 square meters. The plant aims to manufacture 1,000 instrument units annually and 6,000 liters of reagents per day.

Another player in this investment wave is Weigao International Holding Corporation Pte Ltd, partnering with PT Esa Medika Mandiri (ESA Group) to establish a surgical thread plant. Both companies have allocated US$3 million for the plant construction, excluding land and buildings. Initially, an investment of US$1.5 million will be injected into the project. Vivienne Zhang, Deputy General Manager of Weigao Group, highlighted that the plant's production output will be exported to other ASEAN countries. "We hope that Indonesia will not only receive imported products but also become a producer for worldwide consumption," she stated earlier this March.

Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Health Minister, encourages investors to confidently inject capital and expand their businesses in the healthcare sector, primarily to address domestic needs. He assures that domestic healthcare product procurement will be bolstered by allocating the State Budget (APBN) and foreign loans. "We will distribute US$4 billion from World Bank loans for the next 3-4 years," he announced mid-March.