TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Health Ministry will recruit more volunteers to deal with the shortage of health workers dealing with Covid-19. The ministry's director of infectious disease prevention and control Siti Nadia Tarmizi said the recruitment will also be done by provincial governments.

"We will overcome the shortage of human resources by adding volunteers," Nadia said when contacted on Thursday, July 1.

Volunteer doctors and nurses, she said, are fresh graduates from medical and nursing schools. For surveillance staff, the government will recruit graduates from public health education schools.

A number of provinces in Indonesia have reported a shortage in health workers dealing with Covid patients. The Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta secretary, Kadarmanta Baskara Aji, said he received reports from 27 referral hospitals that don't have enough health workers, as many have contracted Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Medical Association recorded the deaths of 26 doctors throughout June 2021. IDI is now requesting that health workers are given a third dose of vaccine. IDI deputy chair Slamet Budiarto that a booster can better protect medics battling Covid-19 on the front line.

Slamet said dozens of the doctors who died have received two doses of CoronaVac, the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Sinovac.

"Most of the doctors who died had received two shots. This means that this is related to the vaccine's efficacy," he said during an online discussion on Tuesday, June 29.

Regarding a third dose of vaccine, Nadia said that the Ministry of Health is waiting for a publication or scientific study, as well as recommendations from the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI).

Read: Jakarta Needs 2,156 Health Workers as Covid-19 Cases Skyrocket

Budiarti Utami Putri