Ministry of Health was formed on 19 August 1945. The ministry is responsible for public health affairs in Indonesia. The ministry is led by a minister who is responsible to the president and part of the cabinet. Commonly, the minister usually came from medical doctor, however some of them were military doctor. Since 2009, the government has been required to allocate 5% of state budget for health sector. However, the mandatory 5% state budget for health sector was achieved in 2019.[1]
In 2001, the ministry was merged with Department of Social Affairs (Indonesian: Departemen Sosial) into Department of Health and Social Welfare, however the merger was short-lived and both departments were reestablished. On 27 November 2001, Board for Development and Empowerment of Human Resources for Health (Indonesian: Badan Pengembangan dan Pemberdayaan Sumber Daya Manusia Kesehatan) was established.[2]
On 23 September 2021, National Institute of Health Research and Development (NIHRD) will be transformed into Agency for Health Policies Development, a regulatory agency intended to provide only policies and standards making for state health activity, no longer doing research as the research part will be relinquished to National Research and Innovation Agency.[3] Thus, on 7 November 2021, the Ministry issued order to NIHRD and its child agencies to halt their activities per 31 December 2021 as unit under auspices of Ministry of Health, effectively started the dismantlement of Balitbangkes. In the order, NIHRD will split into three parts: one part (which is the most) relinquished to BRIN, one part to become BKPK, and the rest of the Balitbangkes part in regional level will be relinquished to local government where the NIHRD branch formerly existed for being transformed into local-government run public health laboratories for being integrated as part of state public health laboratories system.[4][5]
The minister of health, Terawan Agus Putranto, often published controversial statements about COVID-19.[8] Terawan was also under fire for his "anti-science" and "arrogant" attitude in leading the COVID-19 crisis in Indonesia.[9] Some epidemiologist conducted research to determine locations around the world that could have undetected cases of the virus imported from abroad.[10] Terawan comments on the study, "In my opinion, the suspicion is too far-fetched. Let Harvard to come here. The door is open for them to see. There is nothing we keep secret."[11] Terawan was criticized for stating that flu is more dangerous than COVID-19 because flu has a higher mortality rate.[12] However, his initial response to the spread of COVID-19, such as the initial recommendation to not wear a mask, is quite aligned with other public health officials around the world including Anthony Fauci of the United States' NIH and general directions from the World Health Organization.[13][14] In November 2023, the ministry announced the establishment of an academy in Bali aligned with GISAID, the initiative that led the global documentation of the COVID-19 virus sequences. The aim of GISAID Academy will be to focus on focus on bioinformatics education, advance pathogen genomic surveillance, and increased regional response capacity.[15]
Literature
Wasisto, Broto; et al. (2009). Sejarah Pembangunan Kesehatan Indonesia 1973–2009. Kementrian Kesehatan Republik Indonesia. ISBN978-9799254924.
References
^Yuniarto, Topan (16 July 2020). Kristanto, Ignatius (ed.). "Kementerian Kesehatan". Kompaspedia. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
^Peraturan Menteri Kesehatan No. 5 Tahun 2022 tentang Organisasi dan Tata Kerja Kementerian Kesehatan [Minister of Health Regulation No 5 Year 2022 (Ministry of Health Organization and Work Order)] (in Indonesian). Jakarta. 2022.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
