Jakarta (ANTARA) - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has said that his ministry is currently focusing on distributing blood sugar and blood pressure test kits to community health centers (puskesmas).

"What have been running in all puskesmas (are services) to check blood sugar and hypertension," he informed at a meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR), which was followed online from here on Monday.

The number of patients with diabetes and hypertension has shown an increasing trend based on the monitoring of the National Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), he noted.

To this end, the ministry has accelerated the procurement of test kits to serve the community.

According to him, those kits have been distributed to 10 thousand puskesmas. However, he noted, that it is not yet sufficient.

Therefore, he is aiming to distribute the kits to 300 thousand integrated health posts (posyandus) in the country.

He added that his ministry is currently looking for cholesterol test kits with strips to measure the level of cholesterol in the blood.

The queues at hospitals have become longer as more people have become participants of BPJS Kesehatan's health insurance program, the minister explained.

Moreover, in the implementation of the Standard Inpatient Room (KRIS), there are 12 criteria that need to be met.

Some of the criteria that have not been met are inpatient rooms with bathrooms inside, bathrooms with international standards, and the availability of oxygen outlets in every inpatient room.

Nevertheless, he promised to resolve the problems so that people's right to quality health services can be fulfilled, especially the screening services for four diseases that are the largest cause of death in Indonesia, namely heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and cancers.

"My focus for the rest of my tenure is to ensure the facilities in hospitals are completed," he stated.

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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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