Entered The Main Agenda Of The 2023 State Budget, Commission IX Of The House Of Representatives Asks The Government To Seriously Restore The Health Sector

A number of health workers cried during their last respects to the midwife Ilah Kurnia who died from COVID-19 at the Indramayu Hospital, West Java, in July 2021. (Antara)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission IX of the House of Representatives, Kurniasih Mufidayati, welcomed improving the quality of the health system as one of the main agendas of the 2023 State Budget. According to him, the emphasis of the State Budget is still on the economic sector with all its supporters, including infrastructure.

"It can be said that more than 70 percent of the main agenda of the APBN is directed at the economic sector," said Mufida, Thursday, August 18. "Infrastructure will also continue to be a priority for the state budget in 2023, although it should be necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the infrastructure that has been built with a very large budget in supporting the economy," he continued.

Mufida then asked the government to be really serious about restoring the health sector which had been shaken and devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because according to him, many health workers have died, health services have stopped, medical devices are not able to meet the needs when the wave of the pandemic comes, as well as the decline in the quality of public health due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The resilience of our health system also looked very fragile during the last pandemic, especially during the peak of the pandemic wave. Not to mention the issue of drug and vaccine independence which is still far from expectations. At the level of primary health care and first-rate health facilities, people are still complaining about poor services. bad," he said. "Therefore, the recovery of the health sector should receive special attention in the 2023 State Budget," he continued.

The PKS Legislator for the Jakarta Dapil also encouraged the government to pay serious attention to maternal and child health, including the handling of stunting in the 2023 State Budget.

Mufida continued, in research conducted by UNICEF with UNDP, AIPP-Prospera and the SMERU Research Institute which found that Indonesian children face various challenges ranging from economic shocks and food insecurity, disruption of access to health services, to the emergence of psychological pressure due to the last pandemic.

"The implementation of the disrupted posyandu has also caused 13 percent of households with children under five years of age unable to obtain immunization services and 36.7 percent of these households have not been able to get therapy and other health services that their children need," said Mufida. President Joko Widodo read out the 2023 State Budget Financial Note during the MPR Annual Session to welcome the 77th Indonesian Independence Day. There are 5 main agendas in the posture of the 2023 RAPBN presented by the president.

Among them are strengthening the quality of superior human resources through improving the quality of education and health systems, accelerating infrastructure development, strengthening the effectiveness of bureaucratic reform implementation, implementing industrial revitalization by encouraging downstreaming and green economy development and development.