TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir on Wednesday conveyed his appreciation for the country’s medical workers in the frontline of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, which he also deems as an act of sacrifice.

“They are the individuals who are at the forefront in handling the outbreak, we even might sometimes feel embarrassed compared to what they do. The work that we do is not enough, what is clear is that those in the frontline are incredible,” said Erick Thohis in the video conference on Wednesday, April 1.

He said that the current difficult times need to be addressed with collective efforts from the public.

Erick also appreciated humanitarian moves done by a number of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) such as Bank Mandiri, which prepared insurance policies valued at Rp1 trillion for medical workers, and PT Telkom that launched the “Peduli Lindungi” app amid the pandemic.

However, the minister urged Telkom to create a database that can later be used as reference statistics with complete information on the number of doctors, volunteers, other medical workers, hospitals and its capacity, and the number of needed health equipment.

“The app works in partnership with the military, the Electronic Transactions and Information Ministry, Home Affairs Ministry, and many more that can’t be mentioned one-by-one. We should unite, don’t stand alone,” said Erick Thohir.

EKO WAHYUDI