The visit of Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education has given some fresh air to stem cell research development. He praised the excellent stem cell development in Indonesia and said that it was equal with the development conducted abroad.
It was stated by Mohammad Nasir when he was inspecting the research results of Universitas Airlangga researchers, on Friday, April 28, in Amerta Hall, Management Office Building Campus C UNAIR.
“(Development of ) stem cell in Indonesia is as good as other countries. Stem cell in Indonesia is considered excellent. We, (compared to) China, America and Iran, are not very different. We want to push the researchers to develop more,” stated Nasih.
In the occasion, Nasir also had a dialogue with a patient using the stem cell in UNAIR Hospital, Andi Muhammad Ardan. Andi suffered from cirrhosis because of hepatitis since 2013.
During the dialogue, Andi who is a surgery specialist has had three times stem cell treatments. “I suffered from it in 2013, treated with stem cell three times. Then, it was repairing and the condition is now normal,” said Andi.
In response to positive result from the cured patient with stem cell, Nasir said that that the ministry will keep supporting innovations of research development in university. Furthermore, he will also support the quality improvement of laboratories in universities.
“This is the example of development, this is what we support. This kind of innovation is what we develop,” said Nasir. He hoped that the treatment with stem cell therapy can be used for the wider society.
UNAIR stem cell researcher, Prof. Fedik Abdul Rantam, said that UNAIR is developing embryonic and mature cell. Stem cell research developed by UNAIR has high safety level and applicable to treat degenerative diseases.
“We are developing this for diabetes mellitus therapy. There are more cases for this treatment in Surabaya. But stem cell has been applied to 12 degenerative diseases, such as bone fracture, cirrhosis, cancer and cerebral palsy,” said Fedik.
Author: Defrina Sukma S
