Sri Mulyani: Cost Of Treating COVID-19 Patients Throughout 2021 To Reach IDR 83 Trillion For 1.4 Million People

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani reported the realization of the use of the 2021 State Budget (APBN). In her report, the Minister of Finance stated that claims for COVID-19 patients reached tens of trillions.

She also revealed that until now the government still bears the cost of treatment as a form of the state's presence in protecting citizens.

"1.4 million COVID-19 patients who received treatment costs worth IDR 83.3 trillion," she said when holding a press conference on APBN Kita at his office, Monday, January 3.

According to VOI records, on November 30, 2021, the realization of treatment costs was only IDR 49.6 trillion for 768.900 patients. It is suspected that the soaring claims could not be separated from the government's strategy to immediately complete the administration of payments at the end of the year.

Furthermore, the Minister of Finance said that the funds were channeled through the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) as the leading institution in dealing with the pandemic.

"The Ministry of Health, whose budget last year was IDR 43 trillion, jumped to IDR 151.8 trillion. The majority of these funds are used for the procurement of vaccines and vaccinations, and patient care," she continued.

Then, the state treasurer revealed that the allocation of resources disbursed through the Ministry of Health was part of last year's government goods expenditures of IDR 525.4 trillion, an increase of 24.8 percent from LKPP 2020 which amounted to IDR 421.2 trillion.

"So the (Ministry of Health) budget of IDR 151 trillion has been used up for handling COVID-19," Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani concluded.