Our priority is to establish integrated heart services in all of the 34 provincial capitals by 2024.Jakarta (ANTARA) - The COVID-19 pandemic has made health sector reform a top priority for dealing with the threat of future outbreaks, director general of health services at Health Ministry, Abdul Kadir, has said.
At an Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) event, which was streamed on YouTube on Thursday, he said that the COVID-19 pandemic has made many parties aware of the importance of global health defense.
"Thus, we must be able to build and develop our own medical devices and medicines products," he stressed.
In addition, the pandemic has provided the best momentum for Indonesia to reform its health sector, he said.
Hence, the ministry has initiated various transformations in the health sector, including reforming primary services by restoring the function of the community health centers (Puskesmas), he added.
In the future, Puskesmas will focus on socialization and prevention functions, he informed.
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Puskesmas officers will be more involved in conducting outdoor activities to disseminate information regarding disease prevention to the community, he added.
Furthermore, the ministry will reform secondary health services by increasing education services and health screening in the community so that diseases can be detected early, he said.
Another transformation will be implemented in referral services by building a number of hospitals to serve patients suffering from the four diseases with the highest death rates in Indonesia: heart disease, stroke, cancer, and kidney disease, he disclosed.
"Our priority is to establish integrated heart services in all of the 34 provincial capitals by 2024," Kadir informed.
Hence, the ministry is providing scholarships to IDI to meet the demand for medical human resources, he said.
The ministry is also preparing various regulations that will require all hospitals to purchase and use local medical devices and products, he added.
"All imported products that can be substituted with local products listed in the electronic catalogue will be taken down; thus, they cannot be sold in Indonesia anymore," the director general informed.
Still, imported products will be allowed to be marketed in Indonesia if the producers fulfill their obligation to build factories in Indonesia, he said.
A transformation will also be carried out in the health human resources sector by increasing the number of doctors and nurses as well as other medical workers, he said.
"All of our future health services will not use manual tools anymore. All of them must be technology-based. In addition, we will develop biotechnology," Kadir added.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Uyu Liman
Editor: Suharto
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