The number of patients afflicted with the Coronavirus in Indonesia continues to increase. According to data submitted by the Government Spokesperson for Handling COVID-19 Achmad Yurianto, there had been 1285 cases and 114 casualties by Sunday (29/3). All levels of society must work together to overcome this problem. To that end, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) sent 24 students to become volunteers in a program initiated by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemdikbud).
Letter number 254 / E / DT / 2020 issued by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture on Friday (20/3) invited Universities and Hospitals belonging to Higher Education (RSPT) to jointly handle the national emergency situation involving the COVID-19 outbreak. “We encourage students to participate. Students can register through the available forms and we from the faculty will proactively provide assistance and data collection, “said the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FKIK) Dr. Muhammad Kurniawan, M.Sc., when contacted by the Public Relations and Protocol Bureau (BHP) of UMY on Monday (3/30).
Kurniawan explained that this program is divided into two parts. For undergraduate students (S1), the task is to carry out educational information communication. Meanwhile, students who are undergoing professional education will help medical workers in health facilities. Although the risks faced by volunteers are relatively small, both UMY and the Ministry of Education and Culture continue to provide guarantees and regular assistance.
“UMY volunteers are tasked to deliver information related to COVID-19 through online media. Because the program is implemented online by providing educational information through online media or social media. So, in general, the risk to volunteers is small or non-existent, because they became volunteers but are not in the hospital. Assistance in the form of education about COVID-19 is conducted by the COVID-19 FKIK UMY mitigation team and by FKIK lecturers in accordance with their respective fields of expertise, “added Kurniawan.
In the letter issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture, it was stated that each volunteer would be given training and assistance, self-protection equipment (APD) prepared according to the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, nutrition fulfillment, incentives from the Ministry of Education and Culture, community service certificates, and equalization of learning as part of semester credit units (credits) or part of their practices to achieve competencies that can be determined by each university (1-month volunteer = 3-4 credits).
With this program, it is hoped that various levels of society can collaborate in combating this emergency situation. The more people who understand and understand about the Corona virus, the more likely they are to be more vigilant and avoid COVID-19. (ak)
