Merdeka.com – Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the activities of the public health center (Puskesmas) had decreased in the scope of immunization in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“56.9 percent of Puskesmas also experienced a decrease in immunization coverage which frankly is also quite worrying, especially because this immunization will greatly determine the health of our children in the future,” said Minister of Health Budi in a Working Meeting with Commission IX of the Indonesian Parliament, Jakarta, as quoted by Antara, Wednesday (17/3).
The Minister of Health said that during the pandemic, there was also a quite drastic decrease in service visits to health facilities, especially to primary or first-level health facilities.
The Minister of Health also said that 83.6 percent of Puskesmas had decreased patient visits.
“We also observed that 43 percent of Puskesmas cut out posyandu services because of concerns about contracting the pandemic,” he said.
68.7 percent of Puskesmas conducted home visits for stunting toddlers. Then, 69.4 percent of Puskesmas carry out home visits for pregnant women.
“So there was a decrease of about 31.3 percent to make house visits for children under five with stunting. Then there was also a decrease of about 30 percent for Puskesmas to make home visits for pregnant women,” said the Minister of Health.
That shows that the Covid-19 pandemic has a huge impact on health services, especially in first-rate health facilities.
The government responds to policies to ensure that despite limitations, health services continue to run optimally during a pandemic.
Broadly speaking, this response is that there is a need for a new health protocol so that basic health services can still be provided during a pandemic, but with a new health protocol that makes both those who are served and those who serve them feel comfortable in providing these health services.
Then, the optimization of health services and the capacity of health workers was carried out due to the additional burden of activities at the Puskesmas during the pandemic related to testing and tracing to find Covid-19 cases.
The government ensures the availability of medicines, equipment and essential supplies such as personal protective equipment, masks and gloves in order to maintain the quality of essential health services at Puskesmas.
“We are also trying to make the most of the digital platform in continuing essential health services at Puskesmas,” said Minister of Health Budi. [rhm]
– .
