Terawan has made fewer public appearances in the past several months, seemingly after critics lambasted him for stirring up one controversy after another, including by playing down the COVID-19 threat at the beginning of the outbreak in the country, despite his position leading the national efforts against the novel coronavirus.

Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, the chairman of House Commission IX overseeing health care, acknowledged that the minister had displayed rather poor communication skills, though added that Terawan had done a good enough job handling virus mitigation efforts as proven during previous hearings with the legislative body.

Terawan has not been keeping the public properly informed about his efforts, raising questions over his capabilities, Emanuel said.

"One important issue we have found from the minister and his staff is the lack of public communication skills. [Terawan] has done much, but he doesn’t let the people know,” the Golkar Party politician said on Tuesday.

Muchamad Nabil Haroen of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) voiced similar concerns, saying that the current health crisis had tested Terawan's leadership and vision as the leading minister in the health sector.

"The minister must improve his public communication strategy. Many ideas and programs are not well communicated to the public, leaving the latter unaware [of the government's efforts to combat COVID-19]," he said.

Before Indonesia confirmed its first cases of COVID-19 in March, Terawan was under fire for making light of the novel coronavirus threat and instead told people to pray to keep the disease at bay. In February, he dismissed a report by Harvard University researchers suggesting that Indonesia had undetected COVID-19 cases, calling the study "insulting".

This was followed by a series of public gaffes that turned Terawan into the subject of ridicule on social media.

The most recent complaint against him came in early September, when he appeared to play down Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan's decision to reinstate large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) amid a shortage of hospital beds, with the minister suggesting that hospitals in Jakarta "could still handle COVID-19 patients".

Terawan also stirred controversy after responding to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's criticism regarding low spending on the health sector despite the country’s struggle to contain COVID-19 transmission, saying the low spending was due to a low number of patients.

Saleh Daulay of the National Mandate Party (PAN) defended Terawan against Jokowi's criticism, saying the minister needed time to spend the budget with the additional funding of Rp 25 trillion (US$ 1.7 million) coming in the middle of the year.

Terawan was optimistic about spending the budget optimally this year, Saleh said.

"He needs time. He once explained that he allocated around Rp 21 trillion for COVID-19 patients’ medical treatment and the rest was for medical workers' incentives and medical equipment purchases," he said.

Saleh went on to call on Terawan to improve coordination among ministries and state agencies since the minister would not be able to handle the situation alone.

"I urge the minister to provide more medical equipment and medicines in regions throughout the country," Saleh said.

"[Terawan] should also immediately prepare more health workers, lab personnel and specialist doctors in the regions to avoid overcapacity in provincial and central government hospitals, as well as make PCR [polymerase chain reaction] tests more accessible and affordable.”