Terawan Agus Putranto

Terawan Agus Putranto (born 5 August 1964) is the current Minister of Health of Indonesia, in office since 23 October 2019.[1] He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Gajah Mada University and then joined the Indonesian Army as a military physician. He is only the fourth Health Minister of Indonesia to have come from the military and the first since Suwardjono Surjaningrat, who was in office between 1978 and 1988. As Suwardjono and the two earlier officers were 2-star generals, Terawan is the highest-ranked military officer to have ever held this ministerial office.

This Indonesian name does not have a family name, and the person should be referred by the given name, Terawan.

Terawan Agus Putranto
21st Minister of Health of Indonesia
Assumed office
23 October 2019
PresidentJoko Widodo
Preceded byNila Moeloek
Personal details
Born (1964-08-05) 5 August 1964
Yogyakarta, SR Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Spouse(s)Ester Dahlia
Children1
Alma materGadjah Mada University
Airlangga University
Hasanuddin University
Military service
Allegiance Indonesia
Branch/service Indonesian Army
Years of service1990–2019
Rank Lieutenant General

Positions

Minister of Health of Indonesia

President of Indonesia Joko Widodo appointed Terawan as the Minister of Health on 23 October 2019. Before his appointment, President Joko Widodo promoted Terawan to the rank of Lieutenant General.[4]

National Healthcare Insurance

During his appointment, he promises to have the solution on deficit of Indonesia's single-payer government healthcare program BPJS Kesehatan[5], earning more controversy as he seemingly failed to address the issue as the government is forced to increase the premium for the healthcare[6]. Later on, he state that he has no solution for the program[7].

COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he worked to evacuate 188 Indonesians trapped in the Dream World cruise ship.[8] However, he gained controversy for quarantining Indonesians returning from Wuhan too close to residential areas, despite assurance from Indonesian government that the returning Indonesians were not infected. After a mandatory 14-days period of quarantine, all Indonesians quarantined were declared infection-free.[9]

Terawan has also been criticized for stating that flu is more dangerous than COVID-19, stating that flu has a higher mortality rate than COVID-19.[10]

Terawan is also under fire for his "anti-science" and "arrogant" attitude in leading the COVID-19 crisis in Indonesia.[11] He has the reputation to be bad in responding critics and input from the public. One of the cases is when he challenged a study done by Harvard University. Marc Lipsitch, epidemiologist from Harvard University, and three of his colleagues conducted research to determine locations around the world that could have undetected cases of the virus imported from abroad.[12] Terawan comments on the study, "In my opinion, the suspicion is too far-fetched. Let Harvard to come here. The door is open for them to see. There is nothing we keep secret." [13]

Controversy

Prior to his appointment as minister of health. Terawan was known for his “brain-cleaning” treatment or intra-arterial cerebral flushing, a combination of digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and heparin injection for stroke patients. He claimed his method was effective treatment for stroke patients, which led to Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) issued a recommendation to suspend him for a year over a violation of three articles of the Indonesian Doctors Ethics Code.[14] Around October 2019, Terawan was named as one of the candidates to be the next Minister of Health. IDI then wrote to Jokowi, suggesting that he should not be appointed as Minister.[15] However, Jokowi said that Terawan had met all criteria required to be a minister of health, and referred to his previous experience in managing budgets and human resources, including during his service as the Gatot Soebroto Army Hospital (RSPAD) director. [16]

References
  1. "Profil Dokter Terawan, Menteri Kesehatan Kabinet Indonesia Maju". Kompas. 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  2. "Secretariat General and Chairmanship". cimm-icmm.org. CIMM ICMM. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  3. "Indonesian President Jokowi announces new Cabinet". The Straits Times. 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  4. Mediatama, Grahanusa (25 October 2019). "Sebelum diangkat jadi menteri, Terawan diberi kenaikan pangkat luar biasa oleh Jokowi". kontan.co.id (in Indonesian). Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  5. "Jokowi : Dokter Terawan Sudah Punya Jurus Atasi Defisit BPJS Kesehatan | Finansial". Bisnis.com. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  6. Putri, Cantika Adinda. "Cerita Kekecewaan Terawan yang 'Angkat Tangan' soal BPJS". news (in Indonesian). Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  7. Putri, Cantika Adinda. "Pengakuan Mengejutkan Terawan: Tak Punya Solusi Soal BPJS". news (in Indonesian). Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  8. "Menkes Terawan Jelaskan Pentingnya Evakuasi WNI di Kapal World Dream Didahulukan". Tribunnews.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  9. Redaksi. "Terawan: 238 WNI dari Natuna Sehat & Bebas Corona". news (in Indonesian). Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  10. Sihombing, Rolando Fransiscus. "Menkes: Kematian Gegara Flu Lebih Tinggi, Kenapa Heboh Corona Luar Biasa?". detiknews (in Indonesian). Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  11. Post, The Jakarta. "Terawan must go, civil groups say, demanding crisis-sensitive health minister". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  12. Post, The Jakarta. "'It's meant to help': Harvard professor responds after government dismisses study on undetected coronavirus cases". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  13. 6, Liputan. "Menkes Terawan Tantang Harvard Cek Virus Corona di Indonesia". Liputan6 (in Indonesian). Retrieved 12 February 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. "'Brain wash' stroke treatment under scrutiny in Indonesia after inquiry". The Straits Times. 10 April 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  15. "Jabatan Menkesnya Ditolak IDI, Terawan Tak Ambil Pusing - Katadata.co.id". katadata.co.id (in Indonesian). 23 October 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  16. "Despite health minister controversy, health priorities can't wait". Jakarta Post. 29 October 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
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