Medan City Government Is Considered Not Serious In Dealing With Poverty

MEDAN - Chairman of Commission IV of the Medan City DPRD Haris Kelana Damanik asked a number of regional apparatus organizations (OPD) within the Medan City Government (Pemkot) to be more serious in dealing with poverty in this area.

"The collaboration between the Medan City Government OPD is very important to reduce the number of poor people in this area," Haris said in Medan, as reported by Antara, Saturday, May 21.

The handling carried out by the Medan City Government so far, he continued, was considered not right on target and less than optimal in reducing the number of poor people.

The report from the Central Statistics Agency for North Sumatra Province stated that the number of poor people decreased by 0.52 points from 9.01 percent in March 2021 to 8.49 percent in September 2021, which is equivalent to 1.27 million people.

The percentage of poor people in September 2021 in urban areas is 8.68 percent and 8.26 percent in rural areas. Urban decreased 0.47 points and rural areas decreased by 0.58 points compared to March 2021.

"It is proven that slum areas in North Medan, such as Medan Belawan, are increasingly worrying. Likewise, the number of stunting sufferers remains high," he said.

This legislator encouraged the Medan City Settlement and Spatial Planning Department of Housing to be more concerned with improving slum settlements.

Likewise, the Medan City Health Office must be more serious in suppressing stunting or chronic malnutrition sufferers of toddlers in this area.

"We urge the relevant OPD to immediately respond to this problem. OPD must be able to follow the Medan Mayor's swift action, especially in the health sector which is one of the five priority programs," said Haris.