Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said the Indonesian government would recruit some 10,000 new health workers in a bid to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The target is 10,000 (workers), especially to increase the number of nurses to 7,900 people in 141 health facilities," the minister, who chairs Indonesia’s COVID-19 Mitigation and National Economic Recovery Committee, said here on Monday, Jan. 13.

He added that the government is also planning to increase 30 percent of the number of beds in regional public and private hospitals in anticipation of new spikes in COVID-19 cases.

Airlangga continued to say that President Joko Widodo has urged people to remain disciplined in implementing health protocols although the COVID-19 vaccination would begin in the middle of January.

The completion of the national vaccination program which targets some 181 million people was predicted to take 3.5 years.

According to the minister, the government will also increase preventive efforts while vaccinations are running and improving the existing health service system.

The vaccination preparation had entered the final stage as the government is currently checking the results of vaccine clinical trials in a number of countries while waiting for approval from the country’s Food and Drug Agency (locally known as BPOM).

According to the senior minister, the government will soon begin implementing the vaccination program which is scheduled to take place about the middle of the month.

This is certainly waiting for emergency use authorization, Airlangga said.

Reporting by Indonesia Window