Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Photo: Indonesia Presidential Palace) Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo has ordered theHealth Ministry to immediately disburse the 75 trillion rupiah (5.26 billionUSD) budget earmarked to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Addressing the Cabinet meeting to evaluate outcomes in the COVID-19 fight onJune 29, the President called for the ministry to cut complicated procedures toallow the prompt disbursement of the emergency funds.
According to him, claims from hospitals must be paid as soon as possible.Incentives to medical workers and laboratory staff must also be given asimmediately as possible.
His order came after a video of an uncharacteristic reprimand, released onlineat the weekend by the presidential palace, expressing his anger and disappointmentthat only 1.53 percent of the total budget had been disbursed and instructedHealth Minister Terawan Agus Putranto to speed up spending.
The government has allocated the budget for several purposes, ranging fromupgrading 132 referral hospitals across the country to provision of incentivesto health workers.
The bulk of the 75 trillion rupiah budget is earmarked for buying medicalequipment, enhancing health facilities and infrastructure and supporting healthworkers, according to Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture.
Incentives for doctors and nurses range from five million rupiah to 15 millionrupiah each month, while allowances for each family of deceased health workersare 300 million rupiah.
During the June 29 meeting, the President also again called for a"breakthrough" in dealing with the pandemic, such as mobilisingmedical workers from Jakarta to regions with high rates of contagion anddistributing more health equipment to areas in dire need.
He also warned regionsto prepare well before easing their restrictions and moving transition into thenew normal and underlined the need to involve community and religious leaders,sociologists and anthropologists in public communication about the virus inorder to reach out to people at the grass roots./.
VNA
