Jakarta. The Health Ministry said on Wednesday the health bill being discussed by the House of Representatives and the government seeks to increase equality in national health services.

Attempts to accelerate the equal distribution of health services in Indonesia have been delayed for 2.5 years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Health Ministry spokeswoman Siti Nadia Tarmizi told Jakarta Globe’s sister publication Beritasatu. Therefore, the government and health workers must prioritize improvement in national health services to better serve all regions across the country.

"The essence of the health bill is the equal access to health services among regional areas so that we need to equip the primary health services, the referral hospitals, the health infrastructure, and the human resources," Siti said.

She said the Covid-19 pandemic has taught valuable lessons: the challenge to cope with newly-emerging diseases nationwide and the fact that the government was forced to slash other health programs to focus on the handling of the pandemic. 

These two lessons become the main reason to accelerate programs to achieve the equal distribution of health services. The programs may include empowerment of primary health services at the community level such as Puskesmas (public health center) and Posyandu (health center for children and mothers).

"The equality can be realized if the health bill is immediately enacted into a law," Siti said.

Uneven health services are evident in remote areas, especially in the eastern part of Indonesia which doesn’t enjoy the same level of health system quality in the central and western parts of the country, she said. 

In rural areas, many Indonesian still have problems getting basic health treatment. They have to travel to the city to find a hospital. Still, they cannot be treated right away because many patients are lining up. Siti said Indonesia simply needs more hospitals and doctors serving in remote regions.

Patients with serious illnesses like cancer or cardio arrest in Eats Nusa Tenggara or Maluku must go to Makassar or Surabaya as the nearest place with sufficient medical facilities to undergo the treatment, she said. 

"It won’t make any sense to have only one hospital in Kupang or North Maluku. We need to distribute health services with quality human resources and information technology. Hospitals in eastern Indonesia must be capable of handling cancer, heart disease, and stroke, the most common causes of death and morbidity in society,” she said. 

“The health bill covers a lot of things related to this matter.”