The Government Must Have A Strategy For Handling Orphans Due To COVID-19

JAKARTA - Member of the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission IX Netty Prasetiyani Aher reminded the government about the increasing number of orphans due to the loss of parents who died due to exposure to COVID-19.

"The government must mitigate the impact from now on so it doesn't become a ticking time bomb in the future", said Netty, Friday, July 23.

This was conveyed in connection with the momentum of National Children's Day (HAN) today. According to the deputy chairman of the PKS Party faction in the DPR, the absence of parents will have a negative impact on children's development.

Therefore, the government must have a strategy for handling fatherless or motherless children.

"Has their mentoring process been prepared? Moreover, during the pandemic the divorce rate has also increased due to economic reasons", said Netty.

Citing the results of the National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas) of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), it was stated that in 2015 5.89 percent of married couples were divorced (living). The number is about 3.9 million out of a total of 67.2 million households. In 2020, the divorce rate rose to 6.4 percent from 72.9 million households or about 4.7 million couples.

Netty assessed that children at home without parents and children studying without the physical presence of a teacher would certainly be a problem in itself. Therefore, he asked the government to pay close attention to these conditions so as not to hinder Indonesia's demographic bonus opportunities towards 2045.

"Moreover, we have not been able to measure the level of optimization and effectiveness of the online education system during this pandemic", explained Netty.

In addition, the West Java legislator encouraged the government to prepare more specific protection, prevention, and treatment strategy for children with COVID-19 patients. Considering they are vulnerable to psychological pressure due to uncomfortable conditions during treatment or isolation.

“Has the government prepared isolation rooms, health workers, and special psychological assistance for pediatric patients? What about the availability of medicines, supplements, and medical devices that are suitable for the children's condition”, asked Netty.

Meanwhile, based on data from Covid19.go.id, continued Netty, the number of COVID-19 patients aged 0-5 years was 2.9 percent or around 86.531 cases and 9.9 percent aged 6-18 years or around 295.399 cases.

"This condition is certainly worrying considering that children are the nation's future generation who must be protected from COVID-19 attacks, especially the delta variant that easily infects children", she explained.

For this reason, Netty urged the government to immediately prepare a vaccination program with the support of health workers and facilities that cannot be generalized to adults. This is because most cases of children occur due to exposure from their families or communities.

"The government must be able to provide education and information to parents to be aware of their children's exposure to the virus", said Netty.