Govt Denies Prioritizing Economy over Health amid Covid-19 Pandemic

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Covid-19 mitigation and national economic recovery chairman, Erick Thohir, denied the saying that the government prioritizes the economy affairs over handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

“If people say that the government prioritizes the economy, I don’t think so. That’s why the government established a joint committee of Covid-19 mitigation and economic recovery and transformation,” said Erick in a video conference on Thursday, Sept. 3.

According to the SOEs Minister, it is obvious that the government put the health issue first on its programs. “If we look at the focus of state programs, it’s clear that the first is Indonesia Sehat (Healthy Indonesia), Indonesia Bekerja (Working Indonesia), and Indonesia Tumbuh (Growing Indonesia). So we don't talk of growing first, but health.”

Erick underlined that the committee is serious in addressing the health issues, by not only increasing the testing capacity and developing therapeutic treatments but also campaigning for the implementation of health protocols in the community. Presently, he added, the discovery of vaccines is one of the priority efforts working on by the committee.

“But having a vaccine doesn't mean no need for a health protocol anymore,” said Erick. “The Covid-19 protocol must continue to be carried out. It is indeed tiring, but it’s a part of new life that must be accounted for, especially if you love yourself and your family.”

Earlier, a senior economist Faisal Basri opined that the government prioritized the economy over the Covid-19 mitigation. “We see that members of the committee are mostly those in economic affairs, except the Health Minister,” said Faisal in a virtual discussion on Wednesday, August 26, 2020.

Read: Questionable Optimism

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