UI Students Propose Savings For Bridal Candidates' Disease Screening

Illustration of the pair (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - University of Indonesia (UI) student, Dini Kurniawati, together with a team from Thinkwell, Health Financing Activity recommends policies related to saving the screening costs of brides (catin) for disease reduction.

"In Indonesia, screening for paint has only been implemented in DKI Jakarta since 2017. Therefore, if later the Ministry of Health wants to implement catin screening throughout Indonesia, of course a calculation formula is needed on the needs of the government budget and how the potential savings will be if this policy is implemented," said Dini in her statement.

The calculation formula carried out by Dini and the team is through the projected number of brides in the next five years, at the cost of units from each inspection component and inflation figures.

The proposed screening benefit packages consist of three scenarios. First, the Minimal Package, including physical and mental examinations, admission fees, and hemoglobin.

Moderate Packages include Minimal Packages plus HIV, syphilic examinations, hepatitis B, TBC, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Meanwhile, Comprehensive Packages include Moderate Packages plus cerino examinations.

In 2025, within a year, assuming 1, the number of needs is around 44256 billion and on the assumption of 2 about 26238 billion. After this calculation, a comparison was made with the budget burden in one year from several previously identified diseases. The results turned out to be much lower than the previous budget burden.

On the recommendation of the policy, Dini, who is a master student of the Public Health Science Study Program, UI Faculty of Public Health, won the 2024 'Health Policy Recommendation (SiBijaKs) Award' competition.

The 2024 SiBijaKs Awards is a competence for writing health policy recommendations held by the Health Development Policy Agency (BKPK) of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, with data from the 2023 Indonesian Health Survey (SKI) as the main data source.

He and his team also made a presentation in front of echelon 1 at the Ministry of Health to follow up on policy recommendations with the Directorate General of Public Health and the Directorate of Productive and Elderly Age who is in charge of screening.

With this policy, Dini hopes that there will be a decrease in the prevalence of infectious and non-communicable diseases, as well as the prevalence of disease due to heredity. In addition, this policy is also expected to support the success of pregnancy and contribute to a healthy generation, as well as a decrease in maternal and infant mortality rates.

The Dean of FKM UI, Prof. Dr. Mondastri Korib Sudaryo, expressed his appreciation as a public health academic. "One of our tasks is to contribute national ideas and ideas to improve and solve health problems in our beloved country," he said.

Since its establishment in 1965, FKM UI has provided its "head and back" to carry and actively participate in health development in Indonesia.