Health Ministry Urges Regional Governments to Complete Self-Managed TB Tracing Documents

The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) is urging regional governments (pemda) to complete the self-managed documents for tuberculosis (TBC) contact tracing in order to optimise the reduction of this infectious disease.

Deputy Health Minister (Wamenkes) Benjamin Paulus Octavianus stated that these documents serve as guidelines and a framework for implementing contact tracing of TB patients, managed on a self-managed basis.

“Which regions have not yet completed the TB tracing documents? Please complete them immediately,” said Wamenkes Benjamin during a review of the Integrated TB Screening Implementation for the Free Health Check-up Programme in Medan, North Sumatra, on Tuesday.

He explained that the Ministry of Health will follow up on these documents to ensure that efforts to reduce infectious TB cases can run optimally in every region.

“For districts/cities that have proposed their budgets, please coordinate immediately with the Provincial Health Office head,” said Wamenkes Benjamin.

The Deputy Minister stated that reducing the number of TB cases is a central government priority, as Indonesia still ranks second highest in the world for the disease.

“So we must move quickly. One way is through tracing, where if one person has TB, the entire household is examined,” said Wamenkes Benjamin.

He noted that the central government has budgeted for the implementation of tracing across Indonesia as part of the effort to lower TB numbers.

“In Medan, there will be 661 locations. We will examine 66,100 people in Medan City, starting tomorrow until 30 November 2026,” he said.