Ministry Of Health Increases Health Tourism Through Service Quality Transformation

ILLUSTRATION/DOC VOI

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) contributes to efforts to improve health tourism or Wellness Tourism in Indonesia through a series of health transformations to improve the quality of services for tourists.

"The health transformation carried out focuses on developing a health system that can provide the best service to the community so that it can compete with health services in other countries," Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono said as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, August 5.

Referring to the data from the Indonesian Hospital Association (PERSI) 2021, Dante said, 44 hospitals in Indonesia have pocketed international accreditation.

A total of 26 of them already have a certificate from the Joint Commission International (JCI) and one hospital has received accreditation from the Accreditation Council of Health Care Standard.

Then 13 hospitals were accredited by the international hospital accreditation committee and four hospitals were internationally accredited.

"Not only hospitals that have been accredited on an international scale, a number of health centers, health homes, and health service facilities have also been supported by trained human resources who are ready to support the realization of health tourism," he said.

Health service innovations continue to be made. One of them is by presenting tour packages consisting of service tours that are integrated with nature tourism, and artificial tourism, and ending with shopping and culinary tours.

"Currently several hospitals in Indonesia have provided traditional herbal medicine outlets and traditional massage services for fitness to attract tourists to take advantage of Wellness Tourism in Indonesia," he said.

In facing challenges in the field of health tourism, the Ministry of Health has developed digital information system services, online health services, robotization, and telemedicine to shorten the service time.

The Ministry of Health also strives to provide affordable services with good quality while targeting cost effectiveness through health technology assessments whose asset optimization has been running well.

"Medical tourism not only has a positive impact in increasing the country's foreign exchange, but also improves the quality of health, increases the number of professional medical personnel, and contributes to the development of tourist destinations," he said.

As a supporting effort, the Ministry of Health implements strategies in the development of health tourism, starting from facilitating public and tourist access to health services, improving the quality of services, including facilities and infrastructure in health facilities.

The Ministry of Health also carries out equitable distribution and increases the competence of health workers through continuous training, as well as providing assistance in preparing health tourism institutions in hospitals and priority fitness businesses, as well as facilitating the establishment of hospitals as medical tourism services.

The strategy is implemented by applying the principles of good hospital governance and good clinical governance supported by adequate information and communication systems.

"I really appreciate the efforts that have been made by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy together with ministries and industry as well as other business entities that have collaborated through this event," he said.