UNAIR NEWS – Responding to Coronavirus spread in Indonesia, the government took swift steps. One of them is to appoint Dr. Achmad Yurianto as a spokesperson for the handling and prevention of Coronavirus. The appointment was officially made by President Joko Widodo, on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.
“The government has appointed an official spokesperson for handling corona, Dr. Achmad Yurianto. He is the Secretary-General of P2P Ministry of Health, “said Deputy of Protocol, Press and Media of Presidential Secretariat Bey Machmudin in the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, Tuesday, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, quoting Kompas.com.
Later all information regarding the handling of Coronavirus will be concentrated on one spokesperson, Dr. Achmad Yurianto, an alumnus of Faculty of Medicine (FK) UNAIR class of 1990 used to serve as Commander of the Student Regiment of Universitas Airlangga in 1986-1988. The man known as Yuri was tasked with answering questions related to Coronavirus.
Previously, the doctor born in Malang, March 11, 1962, often faced with media crews to provide explanations related to the virus from Wuhan. He is also one of the important figures behind the repatriation of hundreds of Indonesian citizens from China due to the deadly virus.
Yuri currently serves as Secretary of the Directorate General of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) Ministry of Health. Prior to serving in the Ministry of Health, he was in the military as a Senior Medical Officer Military District V Brawijaya in 1987.
Yuri’s figure is long known as a member of the military doctor. He was the Head of Pattimura Military District Health Office and led the Kostrad Health Battalion. He also had a mission as a doctor of 745 Infantry Battalion / Sampada Yudha Bakti assigned to Dili East Timor in 1991.
Yuri’s career boosted as he was appointed as Deputy Head of the Second Level Hospital Dustira Bandung West Java in 2006. He then served as Deputy Head of Military Region IV Diponegoro Semarang in 2008, Head of Military Region XI Pattimura Ambon Maluku in 2009, and Head of the Health Operations Service TNI Armed Forces Health Center in 2011.
In 2015, Yuri was asked by the Minister of Health Nila Moeloek to occupy the position of Head of the Health Crisis Center at Ministry of Health until the middle of 2019.
The 58-year-old doctor is currently coordinating the process of observation of Indonesians who have been picked up from various countries. Furthermore, in the context of handling the virus, Yuri also asked all parties to refrain from submitting information about the status of Coronavirus transmission.
“It will be coordinated again, to the regions so once again, in the medical sphere, let the medical expert announce it. Do not be announced by others to avoid confusion,” Yuri said at the Ministry of Health Office, Kuningan, Central Jakarta, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, quoting Kompas.com. (*)
Author: Erika Eight Novanty
Editor : Binti Q. Masruroh
