Danny Pomanto: Jokowi's Instructions Have Been Done In Makassar With The COVID-19 Detector Team

Makassar Mayor M Ramdhan Pomanto (Danny Pomanto) following President Jokowi's direction in handling COVID-19 (Personal Instagram)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) asked regional heads to work hard in the field to ensure that the handling of COVID-19 runs optimally. Regional heads were asked to check the readiness of handling COVID-19 from hospitals to disciplining residents to obey health protocols.

For the Mayor of Makassar, South Sulawesi, M Ramdhan Pomanto (Danny Pomanto), Jokowi's instructions have been carried out in Makassar City.

“In this virtual zoom coordination meeting, President Jokowi emphasized that all regional heads can carry out massive early detection at the RT and kelurahan levels. What the President said has been implemented in Makassar City with a program called Makassar Recover,” said Danny Pomanto, Monday, July 19.

“Our detector team has been formed and goes to the RT/RW of every moving village. This is an appreciation because it turns out that Pak Jokowi also ordered this," he continued.

Danny Pomanto emphasized that efforts for early detection of COVID-19 continue to be optimized in Makassar City.

"We must stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus quickly. That's why we detect it early so that if there are residents who are positive, we can control and treat them," he continued.

Previously, Jokowi in his briefing also asked the regional government to prepare a place for isolation, especially for COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms. This preparation is requested by Jokowi at least at the sub-district level.

“Especially for densely populated areas, especially in cities. Because the field checks that I did (there is a place) 3 times 3 (meters) are inhabited by 4 people, this acceleration of transmission will be massive if no centralized isolation is prepared in the kelurahan or at least in the sub-district," Jokowi continued.

Meanwhile, the discipline of health procedures is also required to be regulated in detail regarding the implementation in markets, malls, factories and places of worship.

“Third, plan and prepare regional hospitals, including reserve hospitals and emergency hospitals. There must be anticipation in advance, at least there is planning. What if the hospital is full, don't let it be full, then it will be too late," he said.

"I ask the hospital to check properly, to control the field. Check the medicine is ready or not for how many days, how many weeks, how many months, control and check oxygen is ready or not (availability). Check the BOR capacity, because there is still a lot of hospital capacity that can be increased for COVID (handling)," Jokowi continued.

Jokowi said that in a number of areas, hospitals still set a figure of 20-30 percent of beds for COVID-19 patients from the total capacity.

"This can be increased by 40 (percent) or as in DKI 50 (percent), which is allocated to COVID (patients). This regional head must know what capacity, given how much COVID," said Jokowi.