Minimal Health Budget Absorption, Minister Of Health: Few Patients

Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Health (Menkes) Terawan Agus Putranto said that the low absorption of the COVID-19 health budget for housing payments is related to the number of positive patients.

"If the absorption is insufficient, it means that the patient is less, less. Compensation for medical personnel also means that if the absorption is insufficient, there will be fewer deaths," said Terawan in a joint meeting with the DPR Budget Agency, Wednesday, July 15.

According to Terawan, it would be different if a large number of patients and medical personnel died. So the absorption of the budget is also a lot. Therefore, the absorption of the budget certainly really depends on the development of the corona case. "It is different from the absorption of capital and goods spending," he said.

According to him, this budget is divided into two, namely central and regional. That way, his party must be very careful in making decisions. "We are also very careful, because we are concerned with moral hazard which we uphold," he said.

In the future, he said he would improve the absorption of this budget so that it was absorbed properly. But still by prioritizing accountability. With the maximum absorption of this budget, it is hoped that it can help the national economic recovery program (PEN).

The Ministry of Finance previously noted that the absorption of the health sector budget for handling COVID-19 was only 5.12 percent of the budget of IDR 87.55 trillion.

The low absorption of the budget is said to be due to changes in ceilings and constraints on field implementation. "This is a delay in claims for treatment costs and incentives for health workers," said Kunta Wibawa, an expert staff for state expenditure at the Ministry of Finance.

The low absorption of the health sector budget has also triggered President Joko Widodo's anger at the July 18 cabinet meeting. This is because the budget provided has not been properly absorbed.

At that time, Jokowi highlighted that the realization of the health management budget was still very small from the total budget of IDR 75 trillion disbursed.

"I give an example, the health sector is budgeted at Rp. 75 trillion, Rp. 75 trillion has just come out 1.53 percent. The money circulating in society is all there," said Jokowi in a video that was broadcast on the YouTube account of the Presidential Secretariat, Sunday, June 28. .