• RIU Connect
    • 28 May 2020 2735
    Life Reinsurance

    A Flashback of Handling COVID-19 in Indonesia


    In May 2020, the Government of Indonesia planned to start implementing 'The New Normal', which aims to maintain Indonesia's economic stability and prevent Indonesia from falling back into an economic crisis. This discourse is basically a real manifestation of the government's plan to impose "relaxation" on the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) policy that has been running for the past few months. Although of course we all want to be able to return to a 'normal' life, this discourse of 'The New Normal' has undoubtedly caused various questions and controversies in society: is it true, Indonesia is ready to enter the phase of 'The New Normal'? 
    Before answering this question, let us look back a little on the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia and in several other countries.
     
    As of May 27, 2020, the Indonesian government has announced 23,851 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with a total of 1,473 people who have died. With a death rate in the range of 6%, Indonesia still ranks first in terms of the highest death rate due to COVID-19 in Southeast Asia. The number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 cannot be said to be stable, let alone decrease. In fact, a few days ago, the addition of new cases per day almost touched the figure of 1,000 cases. Even though it had decreased to around 400 new cases per day, on May 27th 2020, the figure actually crept back up to around 600.
     
    What is even more worrying is that this is the number of positive cases that have been confirmed by the swab examination, and the results have been validated by the Health Research and Development Agency (Balitbangkes). This figure does not take into account the number of reactive cases "only" from the results of rapid examinations and positive results that have not been validated by Balitbangkes. The scope of the examination is still not broad, there are still many people who have not carried out an examination, so it is possible that there are still many positive cases that have not been detected.
     
    This lack of control over the rate of transmission of COVID-19 may be partly due to the 'late' start of handling COVID-19 in Indonesia. At the beginning of the year, when COVID-19 began to attack the world at large, Indonesia even joked and made jokes about the Coronavirus. Saying that the Coronavirus deserves no special attention, because it is nothing more than a kind of 'common cold'. In February, when other countries were already busy making lockdown rules, Indonesia actually poured funds amounting to more than Rp 100 billion as stimulation and promotion for the tourism sector, to prevent a decline in the Indonesian tourism business which could certainly shake Indonesia's economic conditions.
     
      
    Efforts to maintain economic stability are understandable. However, under these circumstances, shouldn't there be other priorities that were more important?
     
    South Korea is one of the countries that we can set an example for in terms of handling COVID-19, where they have poured out huge funds for the benefit of prevention, tracking and treatment related to COVID-19. The maximum effort in tracking infection is also actively mobilized so that new infection clusters can be identified and controlled.
     
    South Korea, Vietnam and Singapore also show special and unreserved care for their health workers. The welfare of health workers, both material and immaterial, has never gone unnoticed. They ensure that their health workers are not too tired and that their daily needs are met. In addition, they also ensure that the availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is always guaranteed for health workers when they carry out their duties. Meanwhile in Indonesia, the scarcity of PPE, including masks, was under the spotlight. Even if it is available, the price is far beyond reason. Health workers, especially those who live far from the city, had the chance to use improvised PPE, even those made from their own hands. Meanwhile, the government, instead of intervening in regulating the availability and price of PPE, is throwing 'the ball at the public: “who told you to hunt down and buy masks and PPE? This has made the price soar.'
     
    In Indonesia alone, the welfare of health workers are unfortunately not optimally guaranteed. Looking at the proportion of the number of health workers compared to the total population of Indonesia is still far from a balance. If we look at the data from the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI), Indonesia currently has around 81,000 health workers, the majority of which are still spread across Java, such as 11,365 health workers in DKI Jakarta, 10,802 health workers in East Java, 9,747 health workers in Java. Central, and 8,771 health workers in West Java. Meanwhile, by 2020 Indonesia has more than 270 million inhabitants. Even if there is an equal distribution of health workers in the context of handling COVID-19, it seems that the number of health workers currently available is still unable to keep up with the population of Indonesia. The current spread of COVID-19 cannot be controlled, it is increasingly penetrating areas other than Jabodetabek, and the number of health workers who have fallen - either due to infection or fatigue - in carrying out their duties is increasing.
     
    While the majority of other countries have tightened their rules for restricting the movement of their population, Indonesia tends to 'relax' in making these rules. People still tend to be "easy" to be able to travel outside the home, regardless of the urgency. The climax was at the moment of Eid Al-Fitr yesterday, where there were unclear and strict rules regarding returning home. Even though it is said that the rules have been given, there were still many people who 'escaped' from these rules. The government's belief is that nothing is able to restrain the people's desire to travel on holidays justifies a "gap" in their rules. In fact, the moment of the holiday does not always have to be used as a justification for taking a break from the rules, especially in conditions like this. Look at China that were celebrating Chinese New Year at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging. The lockdown rules have not been relaxed one bit. Even the Chinese government formed a special committee to help ensure and carry out the delivery of basic necessities to people's homes.
     
    This fact seems to reiterate that Indonesia has failed to understand and is less prepared to handle the dangers of COVID-19. When the government tends to rush to start turning the wheels of the economy back in the headline of preventing the economic crisis, they forget that in the process, a health crisis is very likely to occur.
     
    Many are familiar with the term of economic crisis, but perhaps not many know that there is a crisis in the world of health. Yes, a health crisis is real, it is even regulated in the Minister of Health Regulation (Permenkes) as stipulated in Permenkes 75 of 2019. Based on this Permenkes, a health crisis is an event or series of events that results in casualties, injured/ sick victims, displacement, and/ or the existence of a potential hazard impacting public health requiring rapid response outside of normal habits and insufficient health capacity. Judging from the definition above, a country is declared to be experiencing a health crisis if the country experiences an event or series of events that causes a large number of fatalities or illnesses, in which the event has the potential to endanger public health at large so that prompt handling, and insufficient health capacity handle these events.
      
    Judging from the Permenkes, it looks like COVID-19 deserves to be categorized as a health crisis, right?
     
    As a conclusion and affirmation, a recent study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) revealed that based on data from the Spanish Flu pandemic that occurred in 1918-1919 in the USA, it was cities that prioritized public health over economy that ultimately experienced economic growth better. The economy is important, but it doesn't seem like it is worth it if we have to "make a profit" at the risk of people's lives and health. Several neighbouring countries in Asia, such as Singapore, Vietnam and South Korea have proved that taking a serious stance and not underestimating the dangers of COVID-19 can actually reduce the rate of infection, minimize casualties, and recover the country's condition from the crisis more quickly.
     
    Finally, if we have not been facilitated by strict regulations and restrictions, it does not mean that we are not allowed to be introspective. Consciousness should be start from each individual. It is appropriate for us to start looking after ourselves and our families and those closest to us.
     
    Prepare yourself for a long battle, guys!
     

    Source:

    Author

    dr. Laras Prabandini Sasongko, AAAIJ

    Email: laras@indonesiare.co.id

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