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UI, private partners join hands to produce local-made flocked swabs for COVID-19 testing
The consortium is developing flocked swabs – a kit for specimen collection – made with nearly a 100 percent local content.
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A medical worker of the Austrian army performs a COVID-19 nasal swab test on a member of the militia during the outbreak in Vienna, Austria, on May 4. (REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger)
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s part of its social responsibility and public contribution in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Indonesia (UI) and its various industrial partners are set to produce local-made test kits to support testing in the country.
The university said it would establish a consortium comprising experts and researchers from its School of Engineering’s Research Center for Biomedical Engineering (RCBE).
The school will collaborate with several partners whose businesses are in the pharmaceutical, medical and manufacturing sectors, namely Dynapack Asia Pte. Ltd., PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk., PT Ingress Malindo Ventures, PT Toyota Manufacturing Indonesia, PT Langgeng Jaya, PT Indachi Prima and PT Sri Tita Medika.
The consortium is developing flocked swabs — a kit for collecting swab samples — made with nearly a 100 percent local content.
Read also: UI develops online map showing spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia
The Hope and Solution for COVID-19 (HS 19) flocked swabs are now being produced after passing research and testing phases conducted by researchers and doctors from UI’s School of Engineering and School of Medicine.
The availability of flocked swabs is still rare in Indonesia and could only be imported.
“Collaboration between universities and the industry is necessary to address COVID-19 challenges,” UI rector Ari Kuncoro said in a statement on Friday.
Ari said the collaboration between the parties had led to the first batch of 50,000 HS 19 flocked swabs. The kits were distributed on Thursday to various hospitals through the network of UI’s School of Medicine alumni.
“We aim to produce 1 million [HS 19] flocked swabs by this June to be donated to the government and later distributed to [COVID-19] referral hospitals and laboratories across Indonesia,” Ari said.
Read also: COVID-19: Government to conduct PCR ‘pool tests’ in 8 provinces
Hendri DS Budiono, the dean of UI’s School of Engineering, added that the university was developing collaborations for research and innovation within the campus, particularly in the development of medical equipment.
“The cooperation between UI, the industry and the government managed to downstream [the university’s] research, which can contribute to the country, especially amid this pandemic,” he said.
Meanwhile, UI School of Medicine dean Ari Fahrial Syam said the cooperation proved that interdisciplinary-based research and development was the best option for the country.
Aside from getting assistance from the consortium, the development of HS 19 is also funded by a grant from UI’s directorate of science and technological innovations.
Currently, the consortium is still developing the flocked swabs to include 100 percent local content.
