Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesian President JokoWidodo has highlighted the need to undertake basic healthcare reforms inresponse to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his annual national address to parliament on August14, Widodo said his administration would improve human resources anddevelop hospitals and health centres as well as the pharmaceutical and medicalequipment industry.
He explained that the current economic situation isanalogous to a computer crash in which countries are facing stagnation and mustundergo a brief process of shutdown, restart, and reboot, adding that Indonesianeeds to make a big leap forward by making the most of the ongoing crisis.
The leader also highlighted plans to slash oil importsby using fuel made from palm oil, with the expansion of the state oil firm Pertamina.
Indonesia’s economy contracted 5.32 percentyear-on-year in the second quarter. The Government has decided to set aside47.93 billion USD, or 4.4 percent of GDP, for COVID-19 relief packages in theform of cash and food assistance, tax breaks, electricity bill cuts, and othermeasures./.