Having Many Doctors And Health Facilities, Bank Indonesia Proposes Medical Tourism In Bali

The Head of Bank Indonesia's Representative Office for the Province of Bali, Trisno Nugroho, proposed that Bali be a medical tourism destination. (photo: ANTARA/HO-BI Bali.)

DENPASAR – The current state of national tourism is facing considerable challenges. Bali island is no exception. It is even predicted that the tourism sector will be the last sector to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seeing this fact, the Head of Bank Indonesia Representative for the Province of Bali, Trisno Nugroho, believes that medical tourism is a smart choice to revive the world of tourism on the Island of the Gods.

"Now is the momentum for Bali to see various strategies, opportunities, innovations to bring tourists to Bali. We see the development of medical tourism as one of the mainstays of Bali tourism", said Trisno Nugroho as quoted by ANTARA in Denpasar, Sunday, July 4.

According to Trisno, medical tourism in Bali has five advantages. First, people's attention is currently devoted to the world of health. Health concerns are not only limited to the "free" side of COVID-19 but also health in a broad sense that includes various types of disease.

"There are so many Indonesian citizens who visit Singapore and Malaysia just to meet their health needs. This opportunity can be utilized as well as possible by Bali", he said.

Second, the Health Human Resources Empowerment Development Agency of the Ministry of Health stated that Bali has more than 3,000 medical doctors.

When compared with the ratio of population to doctors, one doctor in Bali is sufficient to serve 1,300 patients, better than East Java's 4,500 patients and Central Java's 5,800 residents.

Third, Bali has the support of adequate health facilities and infrastructure. Bali has at least five international standard hospitals in tourist centers.

"In addition, Bali has special treatment services such as Sanglah Hospital which has advantages in the field of heart disease, Gianyar Hospital in the field of nerves, Mangusadha Badung Hospital in the field of trauma, and Bali Mandara Hospital in the field of cancer", said Trisno.

Medical tourism is also supported by the availability of other health services, namely wellness tourism. This service allows healthy people to stay healthy or become healthier.

"Fitness tourism in Bali has developed for a long time, supported by local wisdom in the form of Balinese spa treatments, accompanied by the presence of lulur and loloh oils which are typical of Bali.

Trisno added, the COVID-19 pandemic has indeed forced the tourism world to change the orientation of tourism from mass tourism to quality tourism.

"One of the quality tourism that is very precisely adapted to the potential and advantages of Bali is this medical tourism", he said.