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Crowdfunding for ‘made in Indonesia’ test kits reaches target
The fund will be used to produce 100,000 RT-PCR test kits.
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Drive through PCR testing is conducted at Diponegoro National Hospital in Semarang, Central Java, on Wednesday. (Courtesy of Central Java Provincial Public Relations/-)
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crowdfunding effort for locally produced real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test kits, for more reliable COVID-19 detection, reached its donation target of Rp 10 billion (US$649,329) on Sunday.
The fund, initiated by venture capital firm East Ventures in a collaborative movement called Indonesia Pasti Bisa, will be used to produce 100,000 RT-PCR test kits. More than 2,000 individuals and corporations such as unicorn companies Tokopedia and Traveloka, as well as venture capitalists AC Ventures, Triputra Group and Samora Group donated to the fund.
“The huge participation is an example of solidarity to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you to all donors, volunteers and partners,” said East Ventures cofounder and managing partner Willson Cuaca in a written statement on Monday.
One of the test manufacturers Bio Farma previously stated that it would produce 2,000 test kits to accommodate 50,000 tests in May. However, a surge in global demand caused some production materials to be delayed so the production had to wait until all the materials had arrived in Indonesia.
“We are consistent with the objective of producing 100,000 test kits to detect COVID-19 and hopefully reduce our import dependency on test kits,” said Honesti Basyir, president director of Bio Farma.
The government recently secured 50,000 PCR test kits and planned to conduct 1,000 PCR tests per day to expedite the detection of the virus in individuals. Doni Monardo, head of the national COVID-19 rapid response task force, conveyed the plan following President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s order.
The donations for producing the test kits began on March 30, after homegrown genomics technology company Nusantics was appointed by the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) to make the test kit prototypes based on samples from Indonesian nationals.
Nusantics, which was established in 2019, had received an undisclosed seed funding from East Ventures prior to the appointment in March. (eyc)
