Expert Reacts to Health Minister's View on COVID-19 Testing Scheme

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that Indonesia had adopted an incorrect COVID-19 testing scheme. He explained that the tests were only conducted on people that intended to travel out of town and some other activities. The Health Minister then mentioned that he routinely took a swab test prior to meeting President Joko Widodo. He added sometimes he could took five swab tests in a week. 

“Testing, tracing, and treatment as well as isolation are like patching a punctured tyre. But we lack the discipline. It’s how we conduct the tests that is wrong,” Budi said in a YouTube event with Pikiran Rakyat Media Network Suara Cimahi (PRMN SuCi) on January 22.

Responding to this issue, Padjadjaran University epidemiologist Panji Fortuna Hadisoemarto on January 25 explained that what the minister said was an illustration of an uneven state of testing, meaning that only certain groups of people were regularly tested, such as government officials.

He believed that increasing the number of tests meant the government’s COVID-19 testing capacity must be improved too. “This has become the devil’s circle, because changing the guidelines means the capacity should be improved, or changing the guidelines so that more tests can be conducted."

The epidemiologist believed that Indonesia had adopted WHO’s minimum testing target of 1/1000 each week but suggested that be increased to 3/1000 each week to control the rampant spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia.

Read: Vaccination: Health Minister Clarifies Official's Aggressive Statement 

MOH KHORY ALFRIZI