The IsDB has a long history of cooperation with Government of Indonesia, with a strong footprint in supporting the education sector, especially the upgrade and enhancement of tertiary education institutes. Some of these University projects include important pillars devoted to Medical Education, Research and Treatment infrastructure. These improved facilities are now playing an important role in Indonesia’s COVID-19 response activities.

The University of Padjajaran was one of the State Universities to receive financing from IsDB, under the IDN0140 project. One of the facilities under the project, which was completed in 2018, was a Biosafety Level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory with advanced equipment. The laboratory facility were intended for clinical services, diagnostics, and research related to dangerous biological sources, such as the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria that causes tuberculosis and HIV that causes AIDS. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the University’s BSL-3 lab has been appointed as a referral laboratory for the sample testing of COVID-19 patients in the West Java Province. It is expected that up to 30,000 samples are tested, with the capacity of 1000 samples per day with Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method. (Figure 1&2)

The Development of the Medical Education & Research Center, and two University Hospital Project (IDN 137 & 138), completed in 2017, supported the improvement of three State University Hospitals (the University of Indonesia in Jakarta Province, the University of Sebelas Maret in Central Java Province, and the University of Andalas in West Sumatera Province). The three State University hospitals are amongst the 13 University hospitals appointed by the Ministry of Education of Indonesia as supporting hospitals to the COVID-19 emergency response. It is expected that the University hospitals can treat up to 11,000 COVID-19 patients, based on their capacity.