Explain The Reasons For Joint Assistance To Prevent Stunting InSTRUMENTs, Ministry Of Health: We Apologize

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) stated that all biscuits for assistance for stunting prevention that were moldy had been checked at the regional procurement warehouse. The biscuits were part of the stunting alleviation Additional Food Supply (PMT) program.

"For the damaged PMT, we apologize, this is PMT procurement in 2021. So, there will be PMT in 2021, procurement in 2021 which will be sent to the regions. Meanwhile, PMT 2022 is held by the Procurement of Government Goods/Services (PBJ)," said the Director General of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, Maria Endang Sumiwi in Jakarta, Friday, January 27, confiscated by Antara.

Responding to the moldy PMT biscuits, Endang stated that this was due to the procurement of PMT in 2021 using e-catalogue. Meanwhile, in 2022, the procurement of PMT will be carried out by PBJ.

The findings of moldy biscuits were first received by the Ministry of Health from Tegal Regency, Central Java.

After the report, Endang admitted that he immediately checked the condition of each biscuits according to the batch of his delivery period in the procurement warehouse using tools.

I immediately checked in the morning to our warehouse there. The storage is correct or not, the condition is good or not. When we arrived, we took all the batches whose production was the same as the damaged ones, so I saw all the batches for myself," he said, confiscated by Antara.

According to Endang, after the first report there were other areas reporting the same thing. Endang admitted that when he checked other places, some of the biscuits were already moldy, but the damage was no more than one percent.

Due to the extent of the damage of no more than one percent, the Ministry of Health cannot claim to destroy all of the procurement biscuits. Then, it was decided that every biscuits that were still in good condition should be circulated and given to the family.

However, with a note that every Health Service that distributes must check all biscuits so as not to interfere with children's health and commit to immediately replacing poor-quality biscuits.

"Actually we want to destroy everything, because it is less than one percent, so it cannot be destroyed. So, what is wrong is the procurement in 2021," said Endang.

Previously, Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives from the Nasdem Faction, Irma Chaniago, stated that he found many PMT biscuits to reduce stunting for children at the regional health center in a moldy and poor quality condition.

In my opinion, the 2019 PMT was the worst. Already mold, it doesn't feel right, the quality is bad. It's natural that stunting doesn't go down, it's natural for the President to be angry," said Irma.

According to Irma, many moldy biscuits result from the coordination of the Central Ministry of Health to the area that has been cut off. This makes him worried if PMT is replaced with chicken eggs or ducks that rot more easily.

Compared to replacing PMT with eggs, Irma suggested that the biscuits be replaced with milk or Makahrel fish as a fulfillment of the intake of animal protein in dealing with stunting.

Irma suggested that the Ministry of Health improve its coordination with its staff to the regions, so that these findings do not happen again and can maximize the budget provided for work programs with concrete results.

"I asked the people of the regions who just went down to PMT. What did they get from the Ministry of Health or other ministries? What kind of stunting is this? There is no physical form. Only socialization, this should be our concern," he concluded.