Ironic, Sri Mulyani Says Incentives Disbursement For Healthcare Workers Worth Rp7.6 Trillion In Region Just 5.7 Percent

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Finance)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the incentives for health workers in the regions had only reached 5.7 percent as of June 12, 2021. This rate is still very minimal, considering that 2021 has entered its sixth month.

"For incentives for health workers, of the total budget of Rp7.6 trillion, only Rp442 billion or 5.7 percent has been realized," she said at the XIII National Working Meeting of the Association of Indonesian District Governments (Apkasi), which was broadcasted virtually, quoted Monday, June 21.

Sri Mulyani explained, out of 34 provinces, the largest percentage of incentive disbursement was in East Nusa Tenggara, namely 14.87 percent or Rp32.4 billion of the allocation of Rp218.03 billion. The lowest percentage of incentive disbursement was in Southeast Sulawesi, namely 0.12 percent or Rp320 million of the Rp274.26 billion allocation.

The former Managing Director of the World Bank said that several regions began to show the speed of distribution of incentives above the national average. However, she continued, the realization of the disbursement of incentives has not yet reached 20 percent until the middle of 2021.

Sri Mulyani also asked for an accelerated disbursement to help medical personnel in various regions who are currently facing a surge in COVID-19 cases.

"It's already June approaching July, almost half of 2021. Of course, we hope that these budgets can be accelerated soon," she said.

Not only seeking incentives, but Sri Mulyani also noted that the general allocation fund expenditure/profit sharing fund (DAU/DBH) specifically for vaccination support was still low. Of the total Rp6.46 trillion budgeted, only Rp285.19 billion or 4.41 percent has been realized.

"Until today, the realization for vaccination support is only Rp285 billion or 4.4 percent. It varies for each region, there is a very small area, in this case, Central Java, for vaccination spending it is only 0.91 percent. While there are quite high areas such as DKI Jakarta has realized 18.9 percent," she concluded.

For information, the total cumulative cases of COVID-19 are 1,989,909 people since the first case was announced on March 2. New cases per Sunday, June 20, reached 13,737 people.