Minister Of Home Affairs Tito Will Hold A Coordination Meeting With Regional Heads Handling MBG Toxic Cases

Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian said he would hold a Coordination Meeting (Rakor) together with all regional heads to handle food poisoning cases in the Free Nutrition Food (MBG) program.

The plan, said Tito, is that the coordination meeting with the regional head will be held virtually on Monday, September 29.

"Tomorrow we from the Ministry of Home Affairs will zoom in on meetings with all Regional Heads, Heads of Health Offices, Heads of Education Offices, and Regional Secretary," he said at a press conference at the Ministry of Health, Sunday, September 28.

Tito said the coordination meeting would also be attended by Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Deputy National Nutrition Agency (BGN) and Deputy Minister of Education and Culture.

"Mr. Minister of Health who will provide technical directions to the Head of the Health Service, there are also BGN, Deputy BGN Nanik S Deyang, God willing, will attend, as well as Deputy Minister of Education and Culture, because later there will be the Head of the Education Office present," he said.

Tito said that this coordination meeting will discuss new provisions regarding the obligation to ownership a Certificate of Hygienic and Sanitation Decent (SLHS) which must be owned by the Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG). Also, optimizing the role of the School Health Unit (UKS) for monitoring the MBG program.

Earlier there was UKS, Unique School Health. In addition, there are also decent, hygienic, and sanitation certificates. That involves the Health Office," he explained.

Previously, the Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan emphasized that a number of SPPGs providing problematic MBGs would be temporarily closed.

Zulhas, as Zulkifli is familiarly called, said that this closure was in the context of evaluation and investigation after the proliferation of poisoned children after eating food from the MBG program.

The problematic SPPG is temporarily closed for evaluation and investigation. So the problem is temporarily closing the evaluation and investigation," he said at a press conference at the Ministry of Health, Jakarta, Sunday, September 28.

According to Zulhas, the evaluation carried out is related to discipline, quality, cooking skills as well as sanitation aspects. In addition, sterilization of eating utensils, improvement of waste flow, and sanitation will also be an evaluation material.

In the future, continued Zulhas, evaluations will also be carried out in all SPPGs, not only those with problems.

"Everything was evaluated and investigated, but there were some that I said that I received attention to the quality of water and the flow of waste," he explained.

In addition, said Zulhas, all SPPGs that provide MBG are also required to have a Sanitation Higiene Certificate (SHLS).

Meanwhile, based on data from the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), currently there are 9,533 SPPGs spread across a number of Indonesian regions. Even so, it is not yet known how many SPPGs already have the SHLS.

"Indeed, a Certificate of Higiene Sanitation is a requirement, but after the end of the incident now it gets special attention. Every SPPG must have a SLHS," said Zulhas.

Zulhas emphasized that the safety of children consuming MBG is the government's top priority. Therefore, continued Zulhas, all SPPGs must have SLHS.

"It will be checked. If this is not the case, it will happen again, it will happen again. The safety of our children is a top priority, SLHS is mandatory for all SPPGs," he said.