There Are 171 Sub-districts In Indonesia That Are Not Equipped With Health Centers

ILLUSTRA TION BY VOI

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health stated that as many as 171 sub-districts in Indonesia have not yet been equipped with public health center facilities (Puskesmas) due to the influence of regional expansion.

"The most in Papua. In the past, in fact, one sub-district already had one Puskesmas, because of the expansion of the region from one sub-district to three or even four sub-districts, now there are no Puskesmas", said Director General (Dirjen) of Health Services at the Ministry of Health, Abdul Kadir, quoted by Antara on Thursday, January 20

He said the government had planned to build 67 new Puskesmas this year to cover the shortage. "At most, we build in Papua", he said.

The Ministry of Health targets that all sub-districts in Indonesia will fulfill at least one unit of Puskesmas facilities. "Our target is for one sub-district to have one health center", he said.

But the problem, he said, is whether the government will be able to meet the needs of human resources (HR) for health workers who will occupy the new Puskesmas.

"In reality, HR is still a problem. This is asking friends from the Executive Board of the Indonesian Doctors Association (PB-IDI) to be appointed in a congress", he said.

According to him, Puskesmas are included in primary services that are included in the priority health reform program in Indonesia.

All public health centers (Puskesmas) in Indonesia will be returned to their functions as community health service centers by increasing promotive and preventive activities.

"So far, Puskesmas have mostly acted as small hospitals, in the future there will be more promotional and preventive functions. We will reduce the curative to 30 percent and 70 percent are promotive and preventive. We will redistribute the curative to primary private clinics and individual practices so that the burden is on at the health center is reduced", he said.

In the future, he said, Puskesmas officers would be more dominant in outdoor activities to disseminate disease prevention to the public.

In addition, the Ministry of Health will also fulfill the need for digital-based medical work tools so that the entire process of early disease prevention can be reported to the central government quickly and integrated by the system.