JAKARTA – PT Itama Ranoraya Tbk (IRRA), a medical equipment and tools distributor, obtains a contract involving a purchase of 50 million auto-disable syringes (ADS) from the Ministry of Health. The capacity of these specific needles is 0.3 ml, which differs from other vaccine syringes that use 0.5 ml syringes.
In a press release quoted today (1/9), Heru Firdaus Syarif, President Director of Itama Ranoraya, claims that the syringes ordered by the Health Ministry would be utilised to inject Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines. These are COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech. “This contract would be the first in this year, acquired from the Health Ministry for COVID-19 vaccination programme,” he claims.
According to Syarif, since last year, ADS sales have increased as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Moreover, the sales of this particular type of syringe would sharply increase as it has become the standardised syringe set by World Health Organisation (WHO). “These needles, whose local procurement level reached 60%, are manufactured by PT Oneject Indonesia, our sister company,” he confirms.
It is mentioned that the highest purchase of ADS comes from government institutions, covering the needs of COVID-19 vaccines and immunisation. However, non-government institutions show an increment in sales contribution albeit low. (LK/ZH)