Puan Maharani Guarantees That The Health Law Will Not Make The Rights Of Health Workers Lost

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani (Dok DPR Photo)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian House of Representatives has passed the Health Law using the omnibus law method. The chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, ensured that all rights for health workers (Nakes) would not be lost in the Health Law that had been passed by the DPR.

The ratification of the Omnibus Law on the Health Law was carried out at the Plenary Meeting (Rapur) of Session V for the 2022-2023 Session Year which was held today at Nusantara II Building, Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday, July 11, led by Puan Maharani.

The Plenary Meeting was attended by Deputy Speakers of the DPR Lodewijk F Paulus and Rachmat Gobel. During the meeting, Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin and a number of ministers were also present.

The ratification of the Health Bill into law began with the reading of reports on the results of level I discussions on the Health Bill. The report was submitted by the Deputy Chairman of Commission IX of the DPR as well as the Chairman of the Working Committee (Panja) of the Health Bill, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena.

After submitting the report, Puan then read out about the composition of the factions who agreed and disagreed with the Health Bill. He also invited factions who refused and factions who agreed with a note to express their opinions.

After that, Puan asked for the approval of the council members for the ratification of the Health Bill into law. Members of the DPR who attended expressed their agreement.

Puan also emphasized that every aspiration given by health service actors has been considered in the articles contained in the Health Law.

"The rights for health workers that have previously been included in the Health Law will not be lost in this law. In fact, the rights for health workers will be increased in terms of providing welfare for better survival," said Puan.

Puan said that the Health Law also pays attention to legal protection for health service actors. According to Puan, this is based on the many legal actions received by the health workers but there is no legal umbrella to protect them.

"I appreciate the health workers who are strategic partners in fulfilling the basic rights of the community in obtaining health services. For this reason, health workers need to get proper legal protection," he said.

The DPR's initiative law, which is fully supported by the Government, also carries a number of benefits. This regulation is said to be forming a better future for all Indonesian people.

"This Health Law aims to strengthen the country's health system and improve the quality of health and community welfare," said Puan.

The DPR is confirmed to be committed to overseeing the implementation of the Omnibus Law on a fair basis. Puan detailed, starting from legal protection for health workers and patients, to improving the quality of health system services.

"We in the DPR will oversee the implementation of every existing regulation in the Health Law. This is all in order to improve the quality of national health, protect the community and prosper health workers," promised Puan.

The DPR is aware that the Health Law has caused pros and cons. Even so, Puan said that the discussion of the Health Law had met the elements of openness, and was discussed intensively with the principle of prudence.

Puan also ensured that the discussion of the Health Law had involved public participation, including from the world of health and medicine. This is to ensure that the law is made comprehensively.

"In discussing the Health Law, the DPR has involved all stakeholders, including the general public, as a form of public participation in the preparation of this law. Of course, public participation has enriched insights to improve the conception of the Health Law," said Puan.

Bung Karno's grandson said that public consultations had been carried out by the DPR by involving various community organizations, professional organizations, academics, associations providing health services, religious institutions and think tanks. Puan said that the Health Law had also gone through the stage of public socialization and consultation conducted by the Government.

"The DPR RI together with the Government strongly consider the involvement of the community and stakeholders in order to maintain meaningful openness and participation (meaningfull participation) from the community, namely the right to be heard, the right to be considered, and the right to be given an explanation," he said.

"The inputs from various elements of society have certainly been accommodated and carefully considered in this Health Law," continued Puan.

The Health Bill itself is included in the 2020-2024 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas), and is one of the priority bills in the Prolegnas in 2023. After going through various discussions with the Government by involving public elements, the Health Law resulted in regulations consisting of 20 Chapters and 458 Articles.

The Health Law is known to be comprehensive and transformative in order to regulate health efforts in Indonesia from upstream to downstream by prioritizing the strengthening of the national health system. The goal is to increase the health level of the Indonesian people and increase the competitiveness of the Indonesian nation.

The Omnibus Law on the Health Law is said to present solutions to various problems in the Health sector. Such as health services that are still dominated by the curative approach, availability and distribution of Health Resources (HR), readiness to face health crises, aspects of pharmaceutical independence and Medical Devices.

Then also related to the financing aspect of health services, and the use of health technology. The Health Law is made in the context of transforming the health system to support services to the community to be better.

To ensure the transformation of the health system goes well, the DPR and the Government view that a strong and comprehensive regulatory basis is needed to overcome various health problems. Improvement of health regulations is also needed to ensure that the structure of the law in the health sector does not overlap and does not conflict with each other.

For this reason, the formation of the Health Law is carried out using the Omnibus Law method. The hope is that the Health Law will become a comprehensive rigid rule in regulating the national health system. This includes the practice of medicine, nursing, obstetricity, and the practice of other medical personnel whose current rules stand alone.

"Hopefully this Health Law will provide benefits for all of us. By prioritizing the interests of the community, the DPR hopes to be an extension of public aspirations taking into account the transformation of the health system through legislation that suits needs," said Puan.