Tangerang Posyandu Officer Gives Expired Paracetamol, DPR: Thorough, Can't Ignore

Expired fever-reducing medication given by the Posyandu/ Photo: Jehan/ VOI

JAKARTA - Commission IX of the DPR invites the public, especially those with small children, to take advantage of the 2022 National Child Immunization Month (BIAN) and encourage Posyandu to optimize immunization services.

"DPR encourages the government and the community to really function Posyandu to play a full role in the front line in immunization and early detection of child development disorders," said Member of Commission IX DPR, Arzeti Bilbina, Friday, August 12.

Posyandu cadres are asked to strengthen their capacity with adequate and updated knowledge. Arzeti said Commission IX of the DPR supports training programs for Posyandu cadres.

"Thus, Posyandu cadres can assist health workers in detecting various developmental disorders and children's health," he said.

"Because Posyandu is tasked with making it easier for the community to obtain health services, especially for infants and toddlers, the capacity of cadres must be continuously improved," added Arzeti.

Commission IX of the DPR highlighted how COVID-19 had a major impact on children's health services, especially the provision of basic immunizations. This is because the coverage of complete basic immunization for toddlers has dropped dramatically and has the potential to cause health problems for children because their immunity is less than optimal.

Based on data from the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes), there are more than 1.7 million babies in Indonesia who have not received basic immunization during the 2019-2021 period.

And more than 600 thousand or about 37.5 percent came from the Java and Bali regions. Therefore, Arzeti supports the government's efforts in implementing the BIAN, which this month is entering phase II.

“In addition to optimizing Posyandu services, the socialization of the BIAN program must be more massive to the village or RT/RW level. So that people can take advantage of the BIAN moment and we can give children the right to live healthy, "said the mother of 3 children.

The implementation of BIAN is carried out in 2 stages where for phase I it is carried out in all provinces outside Java and Bali which has started in May 2022. While for BIAN phase II takes place in all provinces in Java and Bali during this August.

In the 2022 BIAN program, the immunization given is the measles-rubella vaccine, which targets ages 9 to 59 months. The program initiated by the Ministry of Health also targets catch-up immunizations for children aged 12 to 59 months who have not yet received complete immunizations, namely OPV (drop polio), IPV (injectable polio), and DPT-HB-Hib (Pentabio).

“Make sure the health workers are working well. There should no longer be cases of giving expired drugs to children during immunization as has happened recently. We ask for the accuracy of health workers, no one should be ignored, "said Arzeti.

The legislator from the East Java I electoral district also asked the cadres to be active in assisting health workers during the implementation of immunization at the Posyandu. Arzeti also added, Posyandu cadres also need to be more active in inviting parents to bring their children's immunizations to health service centers.

"Because immunization is a safe preventive or preventive measure to protect children from various dangerous infectious diseases. Especially with government programs, people can get child immunization services for free,” he said.

Furthermore, the House of Representatives encourages the Government to be more aggressive in conducting socialization related to the addition of three new vaccines in the context of basic childhood immunization. The three vaccines in question are the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, the PCV vaccine to prevent pneumonia in children, and the Rotavirus vaccine to prevent diarrhea in toddlers.

“Quality health care is one of the basic rights of children that the state needs to fulfill, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. So we must ensure that Indonesian children get maximum health services, especially immunizations," concluded Arzeti.