BPOM Urges Doctors to Strengthen Preventive Efforts Against NCDs and Antimicrobial Resistance

The Head of the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), Taruna Ikrar, has called on general practitioners to strengthen preventive services, given that non-communicable diseases remain the leading cause of death in Indonesia, accounting for over 70% of fatalities. “One can imagine the immense scale of this problem if we do not solve it, and the foundation is Indonesian doctors who have the capacity to go directly into the community to anticipate this issue,” Ikrar said in Jakarta on Saturday (27/6). He expressed strong hope that doctors, as the front line, can help address problems related to non-communicable diseases through all preventive efforts. Another health issue facing Indonesian society is drug misuse. BPOM’s monitoring results revealed 1,072 cases of misuse of certain drugs. “Next, antimicrobial resistance; how doctors can contribute to mobilising the fight against antimicrobial resistance, because 1.2 million of our population die from this resistance,” Ikrar stated. Furthermore, the circulation of products that pose a risk to health is also very significant. BPOM’s monitoring results indicate that around 19.2% of all available products could poison or even kill users.