TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
IDI blames government over fake vaccines
Change Size
People whose children were vaccinated at the Harapan Bunda Hospital in East Jakarta await explanation from the hospital last Friday. The government declared it to be one of 14 hospitals alleged to have administered fake vaccines. (The Jakarta Post/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) is refusing to take responsibility over the fake vaccine case, claiming that the task to monitor vaccine distribution is the responsibility of the government through both the Health Ministry and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM).
IDI chairman Ilham Oetama Marsis has demanded that the government protect health facilities and workers, including doctors, who have become the target of public outrage.
“The fake vaccine issue has led some people to carry out acts of vandalism. We want security to help us continue to serve the public. If the government fails to provide us with security, we may stop administering vaccines to patients until the government can fix this problem,” Ilham said at a press conference held at the IDI office.
Angry parents of the patients believed to have been administered fake vaccines have not only damaged hospital buildings, they have threatened the doctors at the Harapan Bunda Hospital, the Mutiara Bunda Hospital in Ciledug and the Santa Elisabeth Hospital in Bekasi, Ilham said.
He called on the police to protect health workers immediately, including doctors.
Ilham also called on the people to stop blaming health workers, explaining that they were also the victims of the irresponsible people who had produced and distributed the fake vaccines.
“Neither doctors, nor hospitals want to administer fake vaccines to their patients,” he said.
IDI have promised to assist the three doctors named as suspects in the fake vaccine case and also any doctor who is seen to become a victim of the ongoing public outrage.
Assistance is to be provided in coordination with the Association of Private Hospitals in Indonesia (ARSSI) and the Indonesian Hospital Association (Persi).
