Head of the Unair Tropical Disease Institute, Maria Inge Lusida, confirmed this. So far, there is no obligation from the government to Unair to carry out whole genome sequencing activities. Although initially Unair did this research work only for diagnostic purposes, it actually wanted to contribute to surveillance.
“We, as a research institution, are certainly interested in developing this into a surveillance analysis and genome analysis,” said Inge. “It’s not easy because the equipment is expensive, the reagent is expensive, and requires expertise.” Because of this obstacle, Unair had to rack his brains to find parties who wanted to support this activity. The parties are from state institutions and international institutions.
So far, genome researchers create groups to report findings to one another. Within the group, there are also parties from the government. However, there are no regulations and costs given by the government to researchers to perform whole genome sequencing periodically. “It’s still so far. We have not been supported regarding the finances. We are looking for various sources of funds to support this activity,” he said.
Inge said that actually the 495 genome sequences reported by 13 laboratories in Indonesia to GISAID were a small number. This is because Indonesia has a large population. “What Indonesia reports to GISAID is still small compared to other developed countries,” he said.
Foreign Doors Not Close
Pandu and Windhu also questioned the lax supervision of the doors of foreign arrivals to Indonesia. This is because the two mutant cases of the B117 virus came from migrant workers who came from abroad. In the past, said Pandu, foreign citizens and Indonesian citizens who came from abroad would be subject to strict supervision. “Now I am amazed, as if there is a change: if it brings a negative PCR result from outside, it can go straight out of the airport. This shows we are not careful, ”he said.
“All of them should first be quarantined for five days and re-examined by PCR. If that is done, I think it can reject viruses circulating outside,” he continued.
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