If Pandemic Turns Into Endemic, COVID-19 Financing And Treatment Scheme Will No Longer Be Borne By The Government

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy/PHOTO of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Muhadjir Effendy said the financing and treatment scheme for COVID-19 patients would undergo changes if the pandemic was declared endemic.

The costs that have been borne by the government will be transferred to BPJS Health. Muhadjir Effendy said that the treatment of COVID-19 with BPJS was carried out according to the membership group.

"If it is declared endemic, it will automatically become an ordinary infectious disease. Because it is an ordinary infectious disease, the treatment is also normal, including the financing, which has been subsidized by the government, will be transferred to BPJS," said Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture in Malang, East Java, Saturday, May 21 evening, as reported by Antara, Sunday, May 22.

He also stated, if the COVID-19 pandemic gradually becomes endemic, handling diseases caused by the coronavirus is like dealing with ordinary diseases.

"The name of the endemic disease is still there, but it is no longer epidemic, so it will be treated like other infectious diseases. Anyway, diseases related to bacteria, viruses, and fungi that usually become infections," he said.

According to the former Chancellor of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), the slowing down of daily cases of COVID-19 has made Indonesia prepare for the transition from pandemic to endemic.

Muhadjir revealed that the current number of active cases, positivity rate, hospital occupancy rate, and COVID-19 death rate are not the highest of any other disease.

Based on an internal survey conducted by the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture at 18 hospitals in DKI Jakarta in February 2022, it was stated that the death rate from COVID-19 in Indonesia had dropped to 14th place.

He said the number of COVID-19 was lower than that of other diseases, such as cancer, followed by pneumonia, non-specific pneumonia, and kidney disease.

Thus, he continued, this condition indicates that COVID-19 is no longer a disease that contributes to high morbidity and mortality rates.