President Joko Widodo officially opened the 2024 National Health Working Meeting (Rakerkesnas) which was held on April 24 - 25 2024, at ICE BSD, South Tangerang, Banten. In his speech, the President said that Indonesia has the potential to become a developed country because in the 2030s Indonesia will gain a demographic bonus and the health sector has a very important role in making this happen.
"We can seize this opportunity and become a developed country, but if we don't (take advantage of the demographic bonus) we are sorry," said the President at the National Health Work Meeting, April 24 2024.
The President said, as stated by the Minister of Health when delivering his speech, health is very important even compared to education to make children smart. Because, said Jokowi, if you are smart but not healthy then it will be less beneficial. The President hopes that current health problems can be addressed together and integrated from the center to the regions.
For this reason, the President continued, a long-term plan, a medium-term plan, and a health master plan are needed that are in line with both the central and regional levels.
"Everything must be in line, it must be in a straight line. Therefore we want to consolidate this and integrate it so that our work together can produce concrete results from the health problems we have," said the President.
The President hopes that the health master plan can be completed soon so that it can be used as a guide for implementing health programs at the central, regional and private sectors.
"I am sure that if everything works together, there will be significant progress in the health sector in our country," added the President.
The President added that currently there is still a number of homework assignments (PR) in the health sector that need to be completed together. Among them is the problem of stunting, which, despite experiencing a significant spike, has decreased from 37% of stunting cases in Indonesia 10 years ago to 21.5% in December 2023. According to the President, overcoming stunting is not easy and requires involving various sectors to overcome it.
"Stunting at the end of last year was still 21.5% and it has fallen, but we should have reached 14%. But I calculate that this is not easy, to overcome this, this program must be integrated," said the President.
Apart from stunting, the problem that is in the spotlight is the high death rate caused by non-communicable diseases (PTM). The President mentioned three NCDs that contributed to the highest death rate in Indonesia, namely stroke with 330 thousand deaths, heart disease with around 300 thousand deaths and cancer also with 300 thousand deaths.
Meanwhile, regarding medical equipment, the president said that almost all Community Health Centers now have equipment to support health examinations such as ultrasound and EKG. Likewise, hospitals in the regions have received additional medical equipment which is expected to support efforts to improve health services to the community.
"Several areas have received CT scan equipment, cath labs, but the rooms are not yet supported. The Minister gave an example of what the correct room looks like, so that the hospital director can see," said the President.
The President further said that another big problem in health is the availability of health workers. Currently, the number of doctors and specialist doctors in Indonesia is still lacking, the ratio is only 0.47 and ranks 147th in the world.
The President also highlighted the high number of Indonesians who seek treatment abroad. According to the President, almost one million Indonesian citizens choose to seek treatment abroad rather than at home, which in terms of the country's economy loses around IDR 180 trillion every year.
Regarding the availability of medicinal raw materials, it is also a matter of concern, of which 90% are still imported. Meanwhile, 52% of medical equipment is still imported from abroad.
"That's fine for medical equipment, but don't let our needles, tubes and infusion equipment still be imported, no, we have to produce them ourselves," said the President.
This news was broadcast by the Communications and Public Services Bureau, Indonesian Ministry of Health. For further information, please contact the Halo Ministry of Health hotline number via hotline number 1500-567, SMS 081281562620 and email address Kontak@kemkes.go.id.
Head of the Communications and Public Services Bureau
Dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi, M. Epid