Handling the Impact of COVID-19 for the Elderly

JAKARTA (April 1st 2020) - Director General of Social Rehabilitation Harry Hikmat held a teleconference to discuss the handling of the impact of Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) for the elderly. This teleconference is a follow-up to the Circular of the Director General of Social Rehabilitation in Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 as well as the issuance of an Official Note on Appeals for Follow-Up on the Circular of the Minister of Social Affairs on Efforts to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19.

Harry stated firmly that in a COVID-19 situation like this, all clusters of the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation had to increase a sense of crisis. "One of the efforts to deal with COVID-19 is refocusing the budget to accommodate the need for COVID-19 prevention for employees and Service Recipients within the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation, as well as accelerating the disbursement of social assistance for the elderly," continued Harry.

"Regarding social assistance, hopefully that each work unit in the LU Social Rehabilitation Directorate (Rehabsos) will pay attention to the acceleration and ease in the process of distributing social assistance, especially during verification and validation which can be reached through videocall," Harry concluded.

In the teleconference that lasted for 2 hours, the Director of LU Rehabsos, Andi Hanindito, conveyed the focus of the directorate's current activities covering matters of socialization, regulation making, and monitoring and evaluation. "Furthermore, there has also been an acceleration of the distribution of social assistance by the "Budi Dharma" Bekasi Social Rehabilitation Center (BRSLU) for 16 provinces, BRSLU "Gau Mabaji" Goa for 10 provinces, and the Elderly Social Rehabilitation Workshop (LRSLU) "Minaula" Kendari, which handles 8 provinces," said Andi.

The teleconference which was attended by 16 participants was also attended by the Head of the Center and Workshop for the Elderly, representatives of the sub-directorate for elderly, Head of the Sub-Division of Administration for the Elderly, and the Secretariat of the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation. The results of the meeting via teleconference were agreed upon and became a reference for the implementation of the social rehabilitation program for the elderly by the Directorate of Social Rehabilitation for the elderly.