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WHILE the Indonesian government continues to intensify efforts to develop health tourism or medical tourism. One of the stepping stones in the development of the national medical tourism industry is the Indonesia Health Tourism Board as the main purpose of establishing IHTB is to protect and develop health tourism in Indonesia.
The Indonesian Ministry of Health has just pushed for the role of the Executive Board of the Indonesian Doctors Association (PB-IDI) to analyze the behavioral trends of the Indonesian people for treatment abroad.
According to the Director General of Health Services at the Ministry of Health, Abdul Kadir, when delivering his remarks at the first virtual PB IDI Pre-Conference which was followed from the MEDI Official Youtube in Jakarta, Thursday (1/19) said I actually questioned why so many Indonesians still seek treatment abroad. Around one million Indonesians go abroad for treatment per year and spend about US$11.5 billion (IDR165 trillion) of state money.
Kadir encouraged the role of PB IDI in analyzing this trend through the 31st Congress which is scheduled to take place on 22-25 March 2022 in Aceh. “In fact, doctors in Malaysia, Singapore, alumni of domestic universities, UI, UNPAD, UGM, actually serve Indonesians abroad,” he said.
If viewed based on the comparison of beds with the total population, continued Kadir, Indonesia is in position 1.18. Meanwhile in Asia, the average ratio between 1,000 populations and the number of beds is in the position of 3.3.
“This means that the opportunity to build hospitals in Indonesia is still very large. Unfortunately, our hospitals are concentrated in big cities. Meanwhile, in Maluku, Papua, Irian Jaya and Kalimantan, there are still very few,” he said.
Kadir said Government Regulation Number 47 of 2016 concerning Health Service Facilities and the Job Creation Act or Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation have mandated all foreign investors to build hospitals in Indonesia with share ownership of up to 100%.
“Don’t be surprised if Indonesia is currently the target of foreign investors to build hospitals in Indonesia. Foreign hospitals will grow like mushrooms in Indonesia. This year there are already three hospitals from Japan that will enter Indonesia,” he concluded. [sources/antaranews]
