Budi Sutrisno, Jakarta – An Indonesian Military (TNI) Hercules C-130 aircraft arrived at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base in East Jakarta on Monday morning after picking up medical equipment from China to help medical personnel working against COVID-19.
The military aircraft flew to the Chinese city of Shanghai on Saturday to transport the medical equipment to Indonesia and headed to Raden Sadjad Air Base in Natuna, Riau Islands, on Sunday before flying to Jakarta.
The medical equipment includes disposable masks, N-95 masks, protective clothing, goggles, gloves, shoe covers, infrared thermometers and surgical caps, which will be used by the country's doctors and fast-response team for COVID-19.
The operation was a response to Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto's request for the TNI to provide military aircraft to transport the medical kits from Shanghai, following his limited meeting with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo last week.
Arriving at the handover ceremony shortly after the plane landed in Jakarta, Prabowo said the distribution effort would continue and that more and bigger planes would fly out for the same mission.
"The Chinese minister of defense asked about our needs and I sent our list. This is a form of international cooperation between countries and they already have the experience. Now that they are giving assistance to us, we accept the offer," he said.
Jokowi previously said he had received many complaints regarding the lack of personal protective equipment available and asked for understanding that about 180 countries were fighting to get such equipment.
"Alhamdullilah [thank God], on Saturday, we were ready with around 105,000 pieces of medical personal protective equipment, which will be distributed today to hospitals around the country," Jokowi said.
He detailed that 45,000 items would be distributed to Jakarta and its surrounding areas that included Bogor and Banten, 40,000 items for West Java, Central Java, East Java, Yogyakarta and Bali, 10,000 for provinces outside of Java and 10,000 as reserves.
Indonesia has confirmed 514 positive cases of COVID-19 across 20 provinces, while the death toll has reached 48 as of Sunday.