Jakarta. Hundreds of volunteers deployed by the Ministry of Health to assist victims of natural disasters in Sumatra were forced to travel via Kuala Lumpur before reaching their destinations, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Wednesday.

The indirect route was necessary due to the limited availability of commercial flights from Jakarta to North Sumatra and Aceh, Budi said.

“Flights from Jakarta were full and expensive, so we routed them through Kuala Lumpur first before continuing on to Medan or Aceh,” Budi told reporters in Jakarta. “It takes longer, but the tickets are significantly cheaper.”

The staggered arrival of around 400 volunteers wearing blue uniforms from Malaysia late last month drew widespread attention on social media and sparked speculation.

“It went viral because people thought there were many volunteers in blue uniforms coming from Malaysia,” Budi said. “They are not Malaysian volunteers — they are ours.”

The volunteers have since been deployed to various disaster-affected areas, particularly locations that remain difficult to access, including Gayo Lues, Bener Meriah, and Takengon, according to the minister.

Their presence is critical, Budi said, as several evacuation sites have reported cases of infectious diseases, including measles and other bacterial infections.

“Measles is the most concerning because it spreads very quickly and can be fatal for children if treatment is delayed,” he said.

Budi added that Health Ministry teams are conducting vaccination drives in areas where infectious diseases have been detected and are considered at risk of wider community transmission.