26 Facts About Achmad Yurianto

Achmad Yurianto was an Indonesian military doctor and bureaucrat who was appointed the spokesperson to the COVID-19 Response Acceleration Task Force during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia.

Achmad Yurianto was the Director General for Disease Prevention and Control during this time.

Achmad Yurianto later attended Airlangga University and became the commander of the university's student regiment from 1986 until 1988.

Achmad Yurianto graduated from the university in 1990 with an undergraduate degree in medicine.

Achmad Yurianto started his career as a military doctor in the Brawijaya Regional Military Command.

Achmad Yurianto was later transferred to the Udayana Regional Military Command in 1990 and become the military doctor of an infantry battalion in East Timor during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

Achmad Yurianto was then reassigned to the Regional Health Detachment in Dili, the capital of East Timor, in 1994, and to the Army Strategic Reserve Command in 1997.

Achmad Yurianto was sent to Papua to lead the Indonesian Army relief effort for the 2004 Nabire earthquake and established a field hospital in cooperation with the health ministry.

Achmad Yurianto became the Deputy Head of the Dustira Hospital in 2006, the deputy surgeon general of the Diponegoro Regional Military Command in 2009, and the surgeon general of the Pattimura Regional Military Command in 2011.

Achmad Yurianto then became the Head of the Health Support Bureau in the Armed Forces Health Center, a post he held until his retirement from the military in 2014.

Achmad Yurianto became the deputy chairman of a health selection team for armed forces cadets around 2013.

Achmad Yurianto remarked that most of the people with lung complications in the region refused to wear the N95 respirator masks provided by the government.

Achmad Yurianto was appointed as the Secretary of the Directorate General for Disease Prevention and Control, the second highest office in the directorate general, on 6 August 2019.

Achmad Yurianto initially denied the existence of the virus in Indonesia, stating that the COVID-19 "was relatively tame in comparison to SARS and MERS".

Achmad Yurianto was tasked by President Joko Widodo to lead the evacuation process of Indonesian citizens from Wuhan.

Achmad Yurianto's popularity began to rise after the successful evacuation and Jokowi entrusted him to lead the evacuation process of the World Dream cruise ship.

Achmad Yurianto earned the nickname of "bearer of death" due to his daily reports on COVID-19 related deaths.

Achmad Yurianto clarified his statement by using the relation between housemaids and homeowners as an allegory, but this escalated the controversy and Achmad Yurianto was accused of being "tendentious" and "insensitive" to the condition of housemaids during the pandemic.

Achmad Yurianto ended his tenure as a spokesperson for COVID-19 affairs on 21 July 2020 and was replaced by Wiku Adisasmito.

Achmad Yurianto held these two positions until his death in 2022.

Achmad Yurianto was married to Dwiretno Yuliarti and had two children.

Achmad Yurianto was a photographer and a dollmaker in his spare time.

Achmad Yurianto was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in April 2022 and was brought to the Gatot Soebroto Army Hospital for medical treatments.

Achmad Yurianto underwent chemotherapy shortly afterwards and was additionally diagnosed with multiple strokes.

Achmad Yurianto was brought to his hometown in Malang a day before his death for home care treatment.

Achmad Yurianto's body was brought to his parents' house before the burial on the following day with a full military ceremony at the Dadaprejo Public Cemetery in Batu, East Java.