TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy announced that the Galang Island Special Hospital for Infectious Disease (RSKI) would be set up as a COVID-19 quarantine site for Indonesian citizens who had just returned from abroad.

“As instructed by Pak President, this hospital will be more optimal not only for those who have returned from overseas but also to help the regional governments handle the COVID-19,” said Muhadjir when leading a virtual ministerial meeting as quoted from a written statement, Monday, June 15.

Among the meeting attendees were the Health Minister, the Foreign Affairs Minister, the Secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, the Operational Assistant of Military Commander, the Galang Island Hospital Director, the BNPB Head, and the Riau Island Governor.

Muhadjir explained one of the hospital's facilities whose use could be optimized were the quarantine and the isolation rooms. He added the hospital's quarantine rooms were located considerably distant from the treatment rooms, thus transmission was highly unlikely.

As reported by the Military Commander, Muhadjir said Indonesians who had just returned from abroad could be quarantined or observed for 14 days in the hospital. The government, he added, must anticipate the arrivals of Indonesians from neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.

“And tabligh (Islamic mass gathering) participants from India, which amount to 700 people,” he said.

Muhadjir Effendy requested that the technical matter be followed by the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The Riau Island administration was also expected to coordinate with the Social Ministry to prepare other hospitals by utilizing trauma centers in Tanjung Pinang or in Jakarta.

EGI ADYATAMA