Jokowi Asks Puskesmas To Participate In ODP And OTG Covid-19 Monitoring

President Joko Widodo (photo: twitter @jokowi)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has asked for first-level health facilities, namely Puskesmas to continue to be strengthened and later to play an active role in monitoring people under surveillance (ODP) and people without symptoms (OTG) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I ask that health facilities at the first level, namely health centers, must be strengthened again. We have 10,134 health centers and four thousand of them are with inpatient facilities," said Jokowi during a limited meeting regarding the acceleration of handling COVID-19 which was broadcast on the YouTube account of the Presidential Secretariat, Monday, May 18th.

In addition to strengthening health centers, Jokowi also asked family practice doctors and primary clinics that serve the National Health Insurance (JKN) to be made effective.

The goal is for family practice doctors, Pratama clinics, and health centers to work together to carry out testing and tracking of people suspected of having COVID-19 in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus originating from the city of Wuhan, China.

"This really has to be made effective. So that the puskesmas and its network can be activated to become a node in sample testing, tracing in tracing COVID-19 cases in the region," said the former governor of DKI Jakarta.

"Also a monitoring node for ODP and OTG," he added.

In addition, Jokowi also asked for the participation of the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 in the community or at the RT / RW or village level.

Because, from the reports of the provincial governors, whether or not they apply Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB), the most effective way to help control the spread of birus is the lowest community unit.

So he asked the regional heads to continue strengthening the task force at the community level.

"I ask all relevant ministers, I ask all regional heads to strengthen the task force at the RT / RW or village level or in Bali to have the name Traditional Village. This is very important, the key here," he said.