Jokowi Says Not All Omicron Patients Need Hospital Treatment

President Jokowi/BPMI Presidential Secretariat

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo stated that not everyone with confirmed COVID-19 of the Omicron variant requires treatment at a referral hospital. They can self-isolate.

This is because the majority of Omicron cases have mild and asymptomatic (OTG) symptoms. Most importantly, while self-isolating, people exposed to Omicron minimize direct contact with other people.

"Not all cases of COVID-19 Omicron require direct services because the symptoms are not dangerous. The most important thing is to minimize contact. This will prevent a wider spread", Jokowi said in a Youtube video broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat, Friday, January 28.

Jokowi said Indonesia was facing a daily spike in COVID-19 cases, the main one being the Omicron variant. The increase in cases will still occur in the next few weeks.

However, Jokowi emphasized that the government was ready to face the third wave of the pandemic due to the mutation of the Omicron virus.

"Learning from the surge in cases of the Omicron variant that has occurred in various countries, the government has made a lot of preparations to deal with it", he said.

The government, Jokowi continued, has improved various health facilities and infrastructure according to the character of the Omicron variant which is different from before and requires different handling from the previous spike in cases. One of them is telemedicine services, namely health service applications.

Quoted from the official website of the Cabinet Secretariat, the Ministry of Health provides isoman (self isolation) telemedicine services for confirmed COVID-19 patients with the Omicron variant.

Through this service, patients can get teleconsultation services and free drug packages. This service can be accessed through https://isoman.kemkes.go.id/.

The following is the procedure for obtaining isoman (self isolation) telemedicine services:

1. The patient performs a PCR test in a laboratory affiliated with the Ministry of Health's New All Record (NAR) system. If the PCR test result is positive and the COVID-19 test service provider laboratory reports the test results data to the Ministry of Health (NAR) database, the patient will receive a Whatsapp (WA) message from the Indonesian Ministry of Health (with a green tick) automatically.

However, if they do not receive a WA notification, patients can check their NIK independently on the https://isoman.kemkes.go.id site.

2. After receiving a WA notification, patients can have an online consultation with a doctor at one of 17 telemedicine services. The trick is to press the link in the WA message from the Ministry of Health or in the link that appears when checking the NIK independently on the https://isoman.kemkes.go.id/panduan site, then enter the voucher code so you can consult and get a free medicine package.

3. After the consultation, the doctor will give a digital prescription according to the patient's condition and the prescription can be redeemed via https://isoman.kemkes.go.id/message_obat. Only patients who are eligible for isoman (with asymptomatic or mild conditions) will receive free medicines and vitamins.

There are also free drug packages provided are:1. Package A for asymptomatic patients, consisting of 10 tablets of multivitamin C, B, E, and Zinc; and2. Package B for patients with mild symptoms consists of 10 tablets of multivitamin C, B, E, and Zinc, Favipiravir 200 mg 40 capsules, or Molnupiravir 200 mg 40 tabs and paracetamol 500 mg tablets (if needed).