Jokowi Highlights Indonesian Citizens Treating Abroad, Jakarta Hospital Asked To Fix Services

President Jokowi inspected the registration room for BPJS patients at Arifin Achmad Pekanbaru Hospital, Riau, Wednesday, January 4. (Twitter @jokowi)

JAKARTA - Chairman of Commission E of the DKI Jakarta DPRD, Iman Satria, asked all regional public hospitals (RSUD) in the capital to improve public health services.

This came to the attention after President Joko Widodo was furious because many Indonesian citizens were seeking treatment abroad. Iman said the appeal to this hospital had been conveyed during a direct review at the hospital.

"As soon as Pak Jokowi's appeal, many of our patients are seeking treatment abroad. Responding to this, Commission E captured the message signal from President Joko Widodo, preparing to become a reliable hospital," said Iman in his statement, Tuesday, March 14.

Similarly, Member of Commission E of the DKI DPRD, Ima Mahdiah, views that the increase in medical facilities that need to be applied to hospitals owned by the DKI Provincial Government must be followed by an increase in the quality of medical personnel.

"His services that have been not good so far have to be even better. If we buy new medical equipment but not supported by good human resources, it's useless," he said.

Previously, President Joko Widodo admitted that he was surprised that the condition of 2 million Indonesians were still going for treatment abroad. This was conveyed by Jokowi when inaugurating Mayapada Hospital Bandung in Bandung City, West Java, Monday, March 6.

"In fact, we have a hospital like this. Nearly 2 million people, approximately 1 million people to Malaysia, approximately 750 thousand people to Singapore and the rest to Japan, to America to Germany and others. Do we want to continue?" said Jokowi.

From this condition, Jokowi said that at least Rp165 trillion of foreign exchange was lost. "Alkes (medical devices) are already good, but there are still many that are not good. That must be improved so that hospital services to the community are getting better," he continued.