TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The World Health Organization (WHO) officially lifted the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) last week which effectively means countries in the organization’s membership no longer have to heed the coronavirus emergency response protocol.

According to the Presidential Staff Office (KSP), countries are now guided to strengthen their long-term healthcare system comprising six sub-health system components.

“It will include six sub-health system components according to the WHO,” said KSP key expert staff Brian Sri Prahastuti in a written statement on May 9.

The six components include health efforts, health financing, health human resources, medicine and health supplies, health information, and health governance.

Prahastuti said the Health Ministry is in the process of carrying out a health transformation aimed to strengthen the national health system which was previously regulated in Presidential Decree No.72/2012.

"This transformation is necessary, because there are changes in health needs in the current digital era. Apart from that, advances in science in the field of medicine and Indonesia's experience in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic have made this transformation inevitable," she said.

The WHO emergency committee first declared the novel coronavirus to represent the highest level of alert more than three years ago, on 30 January 2020. The status helped focus international attention on the health threat, as well as strengthen collaboration on vaccines and treatments.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO

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