Day: January 10, 2023

The Ministry of Religious Affairs is planning to prepare special Hajj officers to assist elderly pilgrims during the 1444 Hijriah/2023 AD Hajj period.

“We must prepare officers with special abilities in assisting and serving elderly pilgrims,” the ministry’s director general of Hajj and Umrah organizing, Hilman Latief, said in a statement received here on Tuesday.

The 1444 Hijriah/2023 AD Hajj period will be more challenging, partly because the government of Saudi Arabia has resumed the normal Hajj quota for Indonesia, namely 221 thousand, and has no longer set an age limit for pilgrims, he added.

Meanwhile, many Indonesian pilgrims who have been unable to perform Hajj since 2020 due to the implementation of restrictions to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission also consist of the elderly.

“Currently, there are more pilgrims aged over 65 years than usual. This is because some of them had their departure delayed, so they gathered this year,” Latief informed.

He said he hopes that Indonesian pilgrims who were delayed in going to the Holy Land the previous year will begin to prepare themselves to meet the requirements laid down by the Saudi Arabian government as the quota for Indonesian pilgrims has been set.

The requirements include a health examination of prospective Hajj pilgrims, in accordance with the standards set by the Indonesian Ministry of Health.

“The ministry will also observe the pilgrims’ ability from a health perspective. Besides maintaining good health and physical conditions as informed by the minister, pilgrims must also prepare themselves for Hajj practice,” Latief said.

In addition, the ministry, together with Commission VIII of the House of Representatives (DPR), will soon discuss the cost of organizing the Hajj pilgrimage (BPIH), in line with the stipulation of the quota for Indonesian pilgrims for the 1444 Hijriah/2023 AD Hajj period.

“We will apply the principles of fair and sustainable financing,” Latief said.

Source: Antara News

Ninety-two houses in Tanimbar Islands district, Maluku, were damaged in a 7.5-magnitude earthquake that struck the area on Tuesday morning, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) reported.

“As many as 92 houses of residents of Tanimbar Islands district, Maluku province, were damaged when the magnitude (M) 7.5 earthquake hit on Tuesday morning, January 10 (2023), at 2:47 a.m. local time. Eight of them suffered heavy damage,” acting head of the BNPB’s Center for Disaster Data, Information, and Communication, Abdul Muhari, said in a written statement received here on Tuesday.

Based on data recorded as of 11 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the Maluku Province Disaster Mitigation Agency reported that 80 houses were slightly damaged and 4 units suffered moderate damage in the earthquake, he said.

Moreover, public facilities, such as the district head’s office and the Mandriak field tribune in Sifnana village, South Tanimbar sub-district, also suffered damage in the quake.

The agency informed that the fences of two educational facilities, State High School 1 and Saumlaki Christian Middle School, were damaged in the disaster.

The damage was not limited to Tanimbar Islands district, the agency also received a report on the quake’s impact on Southwest Maluku district. A total of 9 residents’ houses sustained heavy damage and 23 others were slightly damaged in the area following the quake. In addition, 2 educational facilities were badly damaged, he said.

“Most of the damage in Southwest Maluku district is in Watuwei and Letmasa villages, Dawelor Dawera district,” he informed.

So far, there have been no reports of casualties or on the number of residents seeking refuge following the earthquake. The regional disaster mitigation agency is still collecting data at the affected locations. Meanwhile, 1 resident in Romnus hamlet, Wuarlabobar district, South Tanimbar district, was injured in the quake.

The regional agency hosted a coordination meeting on handling the emergency. It dispatched personnel to assist with data and information management. The provincial government provided logistics aid to aid the people, ranging from rice, mats, blankets, family kits, rolled-up tents, items for children, and medicines.

The epicenter of the 7.5M earthquake was located 136 km northwest of Tanimbar Islands at a depth of 130 km. A few moments later, an aftershock measuring 5.5 in magnitude was recorded at 3:10 a.m. local time. Its epicenter was located 197 km northwest of Tanimbar Islands at a depth of 128 km. Though the epicenter was in the sea, it posed no risk of a tsunami.

Source: Antara News

The head of the Bali Provincial Health Service I Nyoman Gede Anom has said that the service is targeting to reduce the province’s stunting rate to 7.71 percent in 2023.

“In 2021, our stunting rate was 10.9 percent, in 2022, our target was 9.28 percent, and the number showed 8.0 percent, but it has not been formalized yet. We hope we will be able to achieve 7.71 percent in 2023,” Anom informed in Denpasar, Bali, on Tuesday.

He said he hopes that the service will reach the target to ensure that Bali remains the province with the lowest stunting rate in Indonesia.

“We are still working on the stunting reduction. From the health sector, we start by giving blood-added tablets to young and pregnant women. We also take care of the well-being of pregnant women by providing additional food and conducting routine health checks,” Anom added.

Besides stunting reduction, traditional treatment programs launched at hospitals and health centers in 2021 will be further enhanced in 2023. By the end of 2022, the provincial government had provided such services at 10 government hospitals and 120 health centers throughout the island, he informed.

“Traditional medicine will be useful in the future. Besides medical tourism, there will be wellness tourism. People visiting Bali will not only enjoy the scenery but also carry out wellness tourism. That is quality tourism,” he said.

Anom explained that his efforts to intensify traditional medicine services in 2023 will involve regular socialization and practice of services at Niti Mandala Renon Field, Denpasar, in collaboration with Gotra Pangusada Bali.

His party is also aiming to maintain COVID-19 handling and vaccination. The vaccination coverage in the province has so far reached 80 percent.

“For COVID-19, cases in Bali have been decreasing earlier than in other regions, which means it is already conducive because our booster (coverage) is the highest in Indonesia. The booster is important because we do not know what will happen in the future,” he said.

In terms of development, in 2023, Bali is aiming to have an international standard hospital in Sanur Special Economic Zone (SEZ). However, Anom said the project is under the purview of the central government.

In 2022, the Bali Health Service implemented successful programs such as increasing the benefits of the Krama Bali Sejahtera Health Information System (KBS) application.

“In 2022, the application was available for 62 hospitals in Bali, while actually, we have 74 hospitals in Bali. Almost all of them are connected to the KBS application except for 2 new hospitals in Mambal Badung and Mas Ubud,” Anom informed.

He said that the Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) is also covering all districts/cities, while earlier, there were 2 districts that were not covered by the services of the provincial government.

“Now, as long as you are registered as a Bali resident proven with your identity card, you can access free health service. The central government does not bear some of the BPJS Kesehatan recipients, so it is our responsibility as the regional government,” he said.

Source: Antara News