The Health Ministry will disburse a large amount of health budget funds soon in October and December.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Committee for COVID-19 Handling and Economic Recovery (PC-PEN) has assured that the government will disburse health budget funds, particularly for the provision of incentives to paramedics, starting next month.

"The Health Ministry will disburse a large amount of health budget funds soon in October and December," executive secretary I of the PC-PEN committee, Raden Pardede, said in an online discussion here on Wednesday.

As of September this year, the health budget realization for COVID-19 handling and economic recovery has reached just Rp18.45 trillion, accounting for 21.1 percent of the ceiling of Rp87.55 trillion since the program was launched in June, 2020, he noted.

The realization of the health budget has not been significant enough since incentives for paramedics were paid three months later, he said.

"Looking ahead, we will try to pay the incentives every month so the realization of the health budget will increase significantly," he informed.

By the end of this year, the realization of the health budget for COVID-19 handling and economic recovery will reach Rp84 trillion, or 96 percent of the total allocation of Rp87.55 trillion, he projected.

The leftover budget of Rp3.53 trillion will be reallocated to other programs, including social protection, he said.

With the budget reallocation, the government is optimistic that the budget realization for COVID-19 handling and economic recovery will reach 100 percent of the ceiling of Rp695.2 trillion by the end of this year, he added.

In addition, he said, the government will also monitor eight regions which are scheduled to hold regional head elections in December this year to prevent a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases.

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Translator: Dewa Ketut SW/Suharto
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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