Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian has criticised regional leaders\nover the use of post-disaster funds in Sumatra.<\/p>\n
He said President Prabowo Subianto had provided funding to Aceh,\nNorth Sumatra and West Sumatra on three occasions: about Rp268 billion\ninitially, a further Rp10.6 trillion in February 2026, and Rp1.9\ntrillion in August 2026.<\/p>\n
Tito said he was concerned that some regional leaders had spent only\n10 per cent of the total assistance provided.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome have used as much as 60 per cent \u2014 thank you for putting the\nPresident\u2019s assistance to use \u2014 but others are still below 10 per cent,\neven though it is already October,\u201d Tito told reporters at the Home\nAffairs Ministry building on Thursday (15 October).<\/p>\n
He said regional leaders needed to work with the central government\nto restore areas affected by the disaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecovery must be a joint effort; they should not expect the central\ngovernment to do all the work,\u201d Tito said.<\/p>\n
Tito added that many facilities and public infrastructure,\nparticularly healthcare facilities, had been damaged in the disaster in\nSumatra last November. He urged local governments, especially in Aceh,\nNorth Sumatra and West Sumatra, to make proper use of central government\nfunding.<\/p>\n
\u201cDozens of regional public hospitals, hundreds of community health\ncentres and hundreds of village-level auxiliary health centres, as well\nas sub-district health centres, were affected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the post-disaster recovery\neffort in Sumatra was also focused on healthcare facilities and\ninfrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur target, after seeing how many health facilities were affected,\nwas to restore them. Nine hospitals had completely stopped operating\nbecause of the severe flooding and high levels of mud,\u201d Budi said.<\/p>\n
He said restoring hospitals was vital because they must continue\nproviding services during disasters and emergencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cServices such as surgery, childbirth and dialysis cannot wait. We\nhad to rebuild that capacity quickly, and fortunately all the hospitals\nin the three provinces were operating again within a month,\u201d Budi\nsaid.<\/p>\n
After restoring the hospitals, Budi said, the ministry also renovated\nthousands of community health centres affected by the disaster.\nThousands of centres had resumed operations within two and a half\nmonths.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity health centres are needed to triage patients so that\neveryone does not go to hospital and overcrowd it. Services such as\nimmunisation and health checks can still be provided at these centres,\u201d\nBudi said.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tito-chides-regional-leaders-over-post-disaster-spending-in-sumatra-1792104634", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }