Jabar Ekspres – Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin conveyed Indonesia’s initiative to integrate financial capabilities between ASEAN countries for the needs of dealing with future pandemics.
“We see that the existing funds in the ASEAN sector should become one health fund that can integrate every modality and funding from the public, private and philanthropic sectors, so that it can form national and global schemes,” Budi Gunadi Sadikin said at the ASEAN Finance-Health Ministers Meeting (AFHMM) press conference in Jakarta on Thursday.
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Budi said the proceeds from the fundraising could be channeled effectively and efficiently to deal with various impacts triggered by the pandemic in the future.
Budi said that Indonesia has learned from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis situation which triggered a major impact on people’s lives and health as well as the country’s economy.
The pandemic cycle, said Minister Budi, generally lasts 50 to 100 years, even longer than the term of office of the minister as the competent authority.
For this reason, Indonesia encourages the ASEAN regional health fund collection initiative to be formalized through this AFHMM Forum.
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“Thank you to Finance Minister Sri Mulyani for initiating the meeting of ASEAN Health Ministers and Finance Ministers to create a more formal forum to ensure that we can follow this cycle even though the ministers have changed positions,” he said.