The Health Minister's Job Does Not Make Budi Gunadi As Happy As CEO

JAKARTA - Budi Gunadi Sadikin admits that his new job as Minister of Health is much tougher than the position he previously held. Currently, Budi has to work hard to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic at home.

Before becoming a minister, Budi had been the CEO of a number of companies. Starting from the CEO of PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk to PT Indonesia Asaham Aluminum (Persero).

Budi admits that life as a CEO is much better than life as a minister of health.

"Frankly, when I became Minister of Health, I felt that life as a CEO was better than life as a Minister of Health. Three weeks as Minister of Health feels like 30 years of working as a CEO," he said, at the Kompas100 CEO Forum event, Thursday, 21 January.

As is known, Budi is not yet one month old as Minister of Health. He was appointed by President Joko Widodo on December 23, 2021 to replace the previous minister, Terawan Agus Putranto.

Initially, not a few doubted Budi Gunadi's capacity as health minister. This is because his educational background is not related to health but nuclear physics and banker work. However, not a few also expressed appreciation after a few days as a minister.

One of them is a senior economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Faisal Basri. He saw that there was little new hope for the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country with the inauguration of Budi Gunadi Sadikin as Minister of Health (Menkes) in the ranks of the Advanced Indonesia cabinet.

Faisal said that the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic would be better in the future with Budi Gunadi at the helm of the health ministry. Moreover, he said, Budi was someone who was willing to learn.

"There is a glimmer of hope that the handling of COVID-19 will be more thorough with Pak Budi Gunadi Sadikin becoming the minister of health. This has no precedent but it provides a glimmer of hope. He knows what he has to do based on science and data. want people to learn and so on, "he said, in a virtual discussion, Wednesday, December 23.

Moreover, said Faisal, if Budi Gunadi Sadikin was accompanied by experts in his field, it was believed that the way to deal with COVID-19 would become clearer.

"So, with the help of qualified experts, God willing, we have a clearer path to overcome this virus," he said.