Healthcare in Indonesia: Some Things Need to be Fixed ASAP!

No matter how hard we care for our bodies, it seems impossible to avoid any form of health problems. For that reason, everyone needs healthcare providers that are reachable at the time of need. Here is what you need to know about healthcare in Indonesia.

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Indonesia’s Healthcare Facilities

It is safe to say that Indonesia has complete health facilities for everybody. The public health center or puskesmas, hospitals, drugstores, and clinics are among the ones that people often visit for their health problems. Some medical personnel even offer health services at their own places.

From those facilities of healthcare in Indonesia, let us explain briefly about the two common ones:

Puskesmas

The public health center is the most affordable option for medical treatments. This kind of health facility is provided by the government, and it is designed to be as reachable as possible. That is why at least one puskesmas can be found in each subdistrict in Indonesia’s cities and towns.

Around 10,000 units of public health centers are available in Indonesia. Some of them are even assisted by some kinds of assisting puskesmas and mobile puskesmas to spread the health services for the public further.

Hospital

In Indonesia, the hospital is divided into general hospitals and special hospitals. Just like the term, general hospitals provide health services for anyone with any health problem. On the other hand, special hospitals only offer services with specific categories such as age or certain illnesses.

Health Workers In Indonesia

Source : Envato

Indonesia is a huge country with more than a quarter billion people. Out of those millions of individuals, over two million are categorized as health workers who have become part of healthcare in Indonesia.

People who can be referred to as health workers are as follows:

• Medical personnel, including doctors, dentists, and specialists
• Clinical psychologists
• Nurses
• Midwives
• Pharmacists
• Nutritionists
• Physiotherapists
• Medical technicians
• Biomedical engineers
• Etc.

Statistically, health workers in Indonesia are dominated by nurses, with more than half a million individuals. Then, the number is followed by around 288 thousand midwives and about 170 thousand medical personnel.

Moreover, less than 100 thousand people are pharmacists and biomedical engineers, with about 87 thousand and 63 thousand personnel, respectively. For the rest of the types of health workers, each of them is less than 50 thousand individuals.

Problems with the Healthcare in Indonesia

Source : Envato

You can see and hear many great things from Indonesia that the country can be proud of. Still, some sectors should be improved or changed altogether sooner than later, and one of them is healthcare in Indonesia.

Just like what is mentioned above, Indonesia has a lot of healthcare facilities as well as health workers that are ready to provide health services for all people. That should mean a good thing on paper, but the problem is whether people can get those services.

There are at least four factors that trigger the problems with healthcare in Indonesia:

Healthcare Accessibility

Although there are plenty, healthcare facilities can mostly be found in big cities, especially the high-quality ones or those with specific specialties. That makes people have to take a costly journey to get the services that they desperately need. The problem becomes even worse with limited infrastructure in some areas of Indonesia.

The Cost

Getting health services is a costly undertaking and often can cost a small fortune. That is a huge problem for many people in Indonesia. A large number of people are not able to solve their health problems simply because they can not afford the price. Fortunately, the government has lightened the burden despite still having room for improvement.

Personnel Quality

Yes, there are millions of health workers in Indonesia, but those with the status of medical specialists still need to be more. The country needs more personnel with special qualifications, and they must be spread evenly across the archipelago as well.

Medical Technology

The need for healthcare facilities in certain areas is already a problem, and it is added to the fact that only a tiny number of those facilities have the latest and more efficient medical tools. That makes most facilities can not do certain medical practices.

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At the end of the day, healthcare in Indonesia is good enough to provide the needed healthcare services. Nevertheless, to make it better and reduce any negative factors, everyone should work together and support each other in the effort to improve it.