Antara News·Indonesia·Thursday, November 5, 2026 at 05:41 AM UTC

Health Ministry deploys multidisciplinary teams to fire-hit provinces

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M. Riezko Bima, Resinta Sulistiyandari

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Ministry of Health is deploying healthcare personnel with various specializations and distributing medical supplies on a large scale to seven provinces affected by forest and land fire haze.

"The mobilized personnel have a variety of competencies, including doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, nutritionists, and ambulance drivers," Widyawati, the ministry's spokesperson, said on Wednesday (Nov 4).

Although Widyawati did not disclose the exact number of the personnel deployed, she assured healthcare workers were sufficiently available across the seven fire-affected provinces to ensure prompt and appropriate responses to public health complaints.

"We are also distributing healthcare supplies to the seven affected provinces, namely South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Jambi, Riau, and South Sumatra," she continued.

Based on updated data as of November 4, the health logistics assistance includes approximately 3.8 million masks; 280 oxygen concentrator units; 41,000 pairs of gloves; 939 oxygen cylinders; and thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Furthermore, the logistics distribution includes air purifiers, supplementary feeding (PMT), various types of medicines, vitamins, and other medical support equipment, distributed proportionally based on the needs of each region.

In terms of prevention and service facility readiness, Widyawati said the Health Ministry is intensifying risk education, monitoring respiratory disease trends, and issuing warning letters for high-risk areas.

Currently, medical readiness is supported by 1,691 community health centers (Puskesmas), 360 referral hospitals, 87 public health laboratories (Labkesmas), and the Public Safety Center (PSC) 119 emergency service.

"The entire network of healthcare facilities is backed by adequate medical supplies, with thousands of healthcare workers and specialist doctors on standby in the field," she ensured.

Earlier, the Ministry of Health recorded a cumulative total of 401,586 cases of Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) in seven provinces and 63 districts/cities due to the impact of forest and land fires.

Widyawati said the figure includes an additional 3,906 new cases based on monitoring data as of 4:00 p.m. on November 2, 2026.

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