Hospitals in Java will also be directed to conduct services with the same standard as the ones in other islands in Indonesia
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Health Ministry is formulating a program for hospital stratification and empowerment to mitigate cancer, the ministry's education hospital coordinator, Else Mutiara Sihotang, announced at an online press conference on Tuesday.



Under the program, Dharmais Cancer Hospital will become a cancer service center that will have several hospitals under its wing, she informed. Initially, only government hospitals will be supported by the program, she said.



Through this, it is expected that, within the next several years, hospitals in Indonesia, especially government hospitals, will provide the same standard of service, including for cancer, she explained.


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"Hospitals in Java will also be directed to conduct services with the same standard as the ones in other islands in Indonesia," she said.



Cancer is a catastrophic disease since it claims many lives and its treatment is expensive, she said.



After heart disease, it has the most expensive coverage under National Health Insurance (JKN), she added.



"The Health Ministry is giving it quite a lot of attention," Sihotang remarked.


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"We are designing a program for nine priority diseases that will receive special attention, namely heart disease, cancer, stroke, mother and infant death causing diseases, infections, tuberculosis, diabetes, and liver disease," she informed.



According to data from Global Cancer Observation (Globocan) and the cancer hospitals registry, three types of cancer currently have the highest incidence rate, she said.



They are breast cancer, cervical cancer, and lung cancer, followed by nasopharyngeal cancer in men, she noted.



Globocan data also pegs the number of new lung cancer cases in Indonesia in 2020 at 34,783, she said.



"Currently, cancers that are being prioritized by the ministry are breast and cervical cancers. Male cancers, such as lung and colon cancers, should also be considered," Sihotang added.


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Lung cancer accounts for 11 percent or 2,206,771 new cancer cases every year and the highest fatalities among cancers globally on account of its rapid progression and low survival rate. (INE)



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Translator: Lia Santosa, Fadhli Ruhman
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