Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto has picked former health minister and army doctor Terawan Agus Putranto as his special advisor on national health.

Terawan took his oath of office alongside Prabowo's other advisors at the palace in Jakarta on Tuesday morning. The 60-year-old doctor has quite a controversial past and a short-lived ministerial career.

Then-President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo appointed Terawan as his health minister during his second term in 2019. However, Terawan was replaced in a cabinet reshuffle in Dec. 2020 following criticisms of his failure to keep the Covid-19 pandemic under control.

Terawan at the time even likened Covid-19 infections to a common flu. Seasoned banker Budi Gunadi Sadikin took over Terawan’s job as the health minister. Budi also keeps his ministerial post under Prabowo’s Red and White Cabinet. 

Terawan caught attention for his so-called “brain flushing” therapy which he claimed could cure stroke patients. In 2022, the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) kicked Terawan out for providing this controversial therapy without the group’s consent when he chaired the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital in Jakarta.

This was not the first time for Prabowo to give people with military backgrounds strategic positions under his government. As a case in point, Prabowo has just given fellow retired army general Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan two jobs: the national economic council head and the president’s advisor on government technology.

Prabowo also appointed Major General (ret.) Lodewyk Pusung as the deputy chair for the National Nutrition Agency. This agency will play a huge role under the current government as Prabowo aims to feed all Indonesian school children free lunches.