Bali Is Planned To Be A Medical Tourist Destination, Luhut: There Are Already Some Investors Who Want To Open International Hospitals

JAKARTA - The government's desire to build an international-class hospital in Bali is getting brighter. Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said there were already investors willing to project the hospital.

As is known, Bali is expected to be one of the health destinations to improve the quality of tourist visits in the country.

"Health tourism development plan by opening an international hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, such as cancer and tumors, there are already some investors who are interested in this", said Luhut Pandjaitan in the webinar 'Bali Economic and Investment Forum 2021', Thursday, April 8.

Furthermore, Luhut said that if it is realized, health tourism will contribute to the number of tourist visits entering Indonesia. He said that this plan is included in the long-term strategy of tourism development in Bali.

To be aware, the government's plan to develop health-based tourism has emerged since 2020. In August 2020, Luhut said Indonesia is the home country of medical tourists with the number of 600 thousand people or the largest in the world beat the United States by 500 thousand people.

Indonesians generally travel medically to neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. This is because health services in the two countries are cheap and promise faster recovery.

Through this medical tour, the government hopes that Indonesia can diversify its economy, attract foreign investment, and open new jobs.

Previously, Luhut mentioned that the government will open international hospitals by cooperating with foreign hospitals from Singapore and Australia. Luhut said cooperation with foreign hospitals is needed so that people do not have to travel abroad to get treatment for special diseases.

Furthermore, said Luhut, in a year of public spending to travel and seek treatment abroad reached 6 billion to 7 billion U.S. dollars.

"There are some hospitals that we approve, later we tell them to compete. There are from Mayo Clinic and John Hopkins, Anderson from Australia and Singapore and so on", he said, at the "Outlook 2021: The Year of Opportunity" event organized by the Association of Indonesian Issuers (AEI), Wednesday, October 21, 2020.

Luhut said that the international hospital will be opened in several major cities in Indonesia. Among them are Bali, Jakarta, and Medan.

In fact, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) claimed Luhut has agreed to open an International Hospital in Bali Jakarta and also in Medan.

"So that our people get treatment in the country and also the quality of our hospitals will be better", he said.