It is because non-communicable diseases have no severe symptoms until complications occur.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The number of patients with hypertension, one of the most common non-communicable diseases in Indonesia, has continued to increase from year to year, the Health Ministry has said.

"The prevalence rate of hypertension in Indonesia was 34.1 percent in 2018,” acting director of prevention and mitigation of non-communicable diseases at the ministry, Elvieda Sariwati, said at the commemoration of World Hypertension Day here on Thursday.

The highest prevalence rate was recorded in South Kalimantan at 44.3 percent, while the lowest was seen in Papua at 22.2 percent, she added.

In the ministry’s Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) survey in 2018, only 3 out of 10 people with non-communicable diseases were identified, while the rest did not realize that they were suffering from the disease, she said.

"It is because non-communicable diseases have no severe symptoms until complications occur," she added.

This causes patients to come to the hospital when their condition worsens, for instance, when they develop heart disease or suffer a stroke, the acting director noted.

Furthermore, she said that out of the three patients detected in the survey, only one had received regular treatment.

She informed that based on the data of the Indonesian Healthy Program through Family Approach (PIS-PK) in 2022, only 27.5 percent of hypertension patients seek treatment regularly.

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"The reasons for not taking the medication regularly are because they perceive that they are healthy, the disease is not symptomatic, as well as it takes a long time for complications to occur," she added.

Meanwhile, chair of the Indonesian Hypertension Doctors Association, Erwinanto, said that treating the complications related to hypertension is quite costly.

In hypertension patients, blood pressure can be controlled with a healthy lifestyle, with or without medication, he informed.

"Limit the use of salt and reduce consumption of alcohol. Furthermore, take physical exercise regularly at least 30 minutes daily," he added.

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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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