It's A Shame, The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Reduced Efforts To Track TB Cases In Indonesia

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Muhadjir Effendy admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic made efforts to track cases of tuberculosis (TB) patients not as massive as in previous years.

It was noted that the tracking of TB cases, which should have been able to find 845 thousand cases in 2020, unfortunately could only find 349 thousand cases.

Meanwhile, tracking cases of resistant TB that should have been able to find 24 thousand cases, only found 860 cases. Resistant TB is a case that is resistant to drugs and requires a longer healing period.

"The percentage in 2018 and 2019, the estimated number of cases found was 60 percent. However, in 2020, only 30 percent of cases were found," Muhadjir was quoted as saying on the official website of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, Saturday, July 21.

Therefore, said Muhadjir, President Joko Widodo issued Presidential Regulation No. 67 of 2021 concerning the Control of TB (tuberculosis). This Presidential Regulation was made to realize the target of TB elimination by 2030.

In Presidential Decree 67/2021, Jokowi appointed Muhadjir as Chairman of the Steering Committee and Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin as Chief Executive.

There are a number of directives in the Presidential Regulation on TB Control. First, Jokowi mandated his staff to carry out aggressive tracking to find TB sufferers.

Second, the stock of TB drugs must be available and the treatment is complete, third, prevention efforts must be carried out across sectors so that in terms of infrastructure and superstructure they can be handled properly.

Muhadjir hopes that this Presidential Regulation is expected to unite the steps of all sectors so that they can synergize and further strengthen efforts to achieve national and global development goals, especially in TB control.

"Let's be committed to achieving the elimination of TB by 2030, prevention of stunting, and also COVID-19. Of course, this cannot be achieved by just talking about it, but it requires real action and hard work from all parties and synergies, both when talking on the table and when on the field," he concluded.

For information, as of 2020, most or 67 percent of people suffering from TB disease in Indonesia are aged 15 to 54 years. Then, 9 percent of TB sufferers are children under 15 years old.

Referring to the WHO Global TB Report 2020, 10 million people in the world suffer from tuberculosis and 1.2 million people die every year.

The TB control in Indonesia has been implemented for more than 70 years. However, Indonesia is still ranked as the country with the second highest TB burden in the world with around 845,000 cases per year with a death rate of 98,000 people or equivalent to 11 deaths per hour.