Central Lombok Still Lacks General Practitioners And Specialists

CENTRAL LOMBOK - The Regent of Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), H Lalu Pathul Bahri said the number of general practitioners and specialists has only reached 200 people. Currently, the regency government continues to intensify medical courses, especially for those who memorize the Al-Qur'an.

"From the population ratio of Central Lombok which reaches more than 1 million, we still lack doctors," he said during the Musrenbang event in Praya District, Antara, Thursday, March 16.

The need for general practitioners and specialists in Central Lombok, if you look at the population ratio according to the rule of one doctor per 1,000 people, the need for doctors in Central Lombok reaches 1,200 doctors. "We need 1,200 doctors, if you look at the population," he said.

To improve basic health services for the community, the local government (pemda) has collaborated with the University of Mataram (Unram) to lecture orphans and memorize the Al-Qur'an free of charge

"To realize education for memorizing the Koran, the local government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Mataram to be able to study at the medical faculty," he said.

He said that every year the local government conducts Rahman Rahim Day activities by collecting orphans, the number of which reaches 12,127 and is distributed IDR 100,000 each. Total spent a budget of IDR 1.2 billion.

"That's the funds spent to provide compensation to orphans in Central Lombok," he said.

But for now, the funds are not distributed anymore because they are quickly used up. The regency government, he continued, plans to provide assistance for college orphans and memorizing the Koran.

"If only from Baznas there was IDR 1.2 billion and IDR 1.2 billion from ASN alms funds per year, IDR 2.4 billion would be collected annually," said Pathul Bahri.

Those funds are used by the local government through the Smiling Orphan Foundation to lecture orphans and memorize the Al-Quran at medical faculties.

"So every year we plan to send 5 to 10 people to college to become doctors and they are the ones who will take care of children and people in Central Lombok," he said.