Puan Maharani: The Death Rate Indicator Must Be An Evaluation Of The Extension Of PPKM

Mrs. Maharani/IST

JAKARTA - The extension of the Level 2 to 4 Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) within and outside Java-Bali ends today.

The chairman of the House of Representatives (DPR), Puan Maharani, asked the government to use the COVID-19 death rate which is still quite high as a material for evaluating PPKM.

Based on data recorded by the COVID-19 Handling Task Force as of August 22, 2021, there were 1.030 patients who died. The 10 provinces with the highest death rates were Lampung, East Java, Central Java, South Sumatra, Aceh, Gorontalo, East Kalimantan, DI Yogyakarta (DIY), South Kalimantan and Central Sulawesi.

"After the PPKM was extended, there was indeed a downward trend in the addition of COVID-19 cases. But we must pay attention to the indicators of the death rate, which is still quite high", said Puan in her statement, Monday, August 23.

Puan reminded that the government must be able to suppress the number of deaths due to COVID-19 which is still high. Because this is still homework to handle the pandemic. "This should be an evaluation material for the implementation of PPKM", she continued.

The chairman of the PDIP Party Central Executive Board (DPP) hopes that the government will also pay close attention to areas where the COVID-19 death rate is still high.

"You have to be careful if you want to loosen restrictions on activities. This is in line with WHO recommendations", she said.

Puan said the government needed to improve health facilities in these areas. So that the treatment of COVID-19 patients, especially those with moderate to severe symptoms, can be carried out optimally.

Because according to her, optimization of the handling of COVID-19 patients in hospitals is absolutely necessary, and as much as possible it is maximized for areas with high mortality rates, with centralized isolation services.

"That way, COVID-19 patients are under the supervision of the medical team and can be helped immediately if their condition deteriorates", she explained.

Puan also highlighted the data from the COVID-19 Task Force related to 9 provinces which still showed an increase in weekly cases. Among them, Central Java, Bali, West Papua, Central Kalimantan, West Sulawesi, Aceh, NTB, Maluku, and Jambi.

According to the former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, there must be an evaluation of why these areas are still experiencing an increase in cases. Including the need to improve the health service system to the community.

Puan assessed that testing, tracing, and treatment efforts should be optimized. Also, the acceleration of vaccination must go hand in hand with other COVID-19 handling efforts.

"Don't just because you want to pursue vaccination targets, then other indicators of pandemic handling become slack. Make sure everything goes together because everything is equally important to save the people from the corona storm", said Puan.