Egi Adyatama, Jakarta – The Community Consortium for Public Health in a written statement on Tuesday argues that the government has acted too slow in responding to the surge of Covid-19 active cases that has happened in Indonesia the past weeks. They say that this response has led to the collapse of healthcare facilities and the high death toll caused by the coronavirus.

The consortium members consist of watchdogs Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), LaporCovid-19, Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), Lokataru along with the Institute of Research, Education and Information of Social and Economic Affairs (LP3ES).

In their collective statement, they claim the government has failed to listen to the general public and the emergency the country is currently enduring is evidence that the opinions and suggestions from healthcare societies, sociologs, and university activists have gone to deaf ears.

"It is as if the government seemingly lacks a sense of crisis and does not have empathy for families that have fought to save lives that have ended up dying without any medical help," the statement said on July 6.

The surge in Covid-19 active cases have caused a rise in the death toll and based on the report by LaporCovid-19 as of July 4, there are at least 60,582 people who lost their lives who were confirmed to be positive through PCR swab tests. However, they believe the actual number can be higher.

They also revealed that 291 people lost their lives battling the virus amidst self-isolation and there are at least 1,046 medical workers who perished during the Covid-19 surge. All while the government did not increase its testing capabilities.

The consortium urged the government to take drastic measures to suppress the pandemic emergency, one of the suggestions by them is for the government to make a public apology and provide assistance for those medically fighting against Covid-19.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1480286/public-health-consortium-govt-lacks-pandemic-sense-of-crisi