A Number Of Ngadu Village Heads Go To Ganjar Because Of The Difficulty In Inviting Residents To Obey The Health Protocol

JAKARTA - Village heads in Cilacap Regency complained to the Governor of Central Java, Ganjar Pranowo, regarding the difficulties they faced when inviting residents to obey health protocols as a step to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The difficulty of educating residents in implementing the health protocol was one of the issues discussed in the online "Village Discussion" event at the Cilacap Regency Pendapa, reported by Antara, Thursday, July 22, which was attended by 227 village heads/heads throughout the Cilacap Regency.

The government's strategy to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has been set starting from house to house in residential areas, including from RT/RW, neighborhoods, and villages. One of the main health protocols that are most often emphasized to be implemented is wearing a mask according to health standards.

"On average, residents feel bored, there are also reasons for their activities in the fields so they feel free not to wear masks," said Padangsari Village Head, Mahruri.

The same thing was conveyed by the Head of Karangtengah Village, Suhartono, and the Head of Pesawahan Village, Wasito, that although they have often been educated and socialized, around 50 percent of the residents do not obey health protocols.

"It is very difficult to raise awareness to the public to implement the health program. It is very difficult, even though we have been around distributing masks and socializing," said Suhartono.

In addition to the difficulty of realizing the health protocol, various other problems were also conveyed by village heads throughout Cilacap Regency to Pranowo.

There are village heads who complain about the difficulty of managing the market, ask for permission to open a tourism place to ask for vaccines and ask for additional medical personnel.

"We ask for vaccine assistance, sir, there are many of our residents who want to work abroad. The condition is that they must be vaccinated, we have contacted the puskesmas but there is no answer. We ask that this be helped, sir," said the head of Karangturi village, Misar.

Hearing this, Pranowo then ordered the Head of the Central Java Health Office, Yulianto Prabowo, and the ranks of the Cilacap District Health Office to follow up.

"Please Mr. Yuli (head of the Central Java Health Office) to record and follow up immediately, yes, it is assisted by residents, whether vaccines and health workers," he said, stating that the "Village Meeting" was aimed at exploring factual problems in the community.

According to him, the Covid-19 pandemic cannot be fought only with data in official reports, but must be preceded by hearing the voices of the public at every level.

He assessed that the village heads in Cilacap Regency had been able to carry out the task of collecting patient data, meeting the food needs of residents affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and implementing the Jogo Tonggo Program.

In addition, all village heads also reported optimizing the 8 percent budget from village funds for handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

"I did the test, they understand how many are sick, how many pregnant women are, how many are at high risk. They know the details and even precision, so if later there is assistance from the government including medicine from the TNI/Polri, I ask the village heads to be spoken to, because they know exactly the conditions in their area," he said.