What are examples of promotive and preventive-based (health) businesses?  They can be (health) screening services, starting from simple screenings, such as controlling cholesterol, blood sugar, (and) blood pressure (levels).
Jakarta (ANTARA) - While attending a chief executive officer (CEO) forum on Friday, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin invited several business players to get involved in promotive and preventive health businesses.

"CEOs should (begin to) enter the promotive and preventive-based business sector since it (the development of the sector) will be encouraged by the Health Ministry (in the future)," he said.

The government will bolster promotive and preventive attempts to improve the health of the people, he added.

"What are examples of promotive and preventive-based (health) businesses? They can be (health) screening services, starting from simple screenings, such as controlling cholesterol, blood sugar, (and) blood pressure (levels),” he said.

The minister further said he expects the mainstreaming of screening services to also improve the sales of measuring devices in the future.

Increasing public spending on promotive and preventive health services will become a trend in the future, he projected.

"We will promote this (promotive and preventive health services) to more people since certainly, people want a healthier life," he stated at the 13th Kompas100 CEO Forum.

In the future, people’s awareness of implementing a healthier lifestyle, regularly taking vitamins, as well as routinely consuming medicine to control diabetes or hypertension will increase, he added.

Hence, he also asked state-run Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) to start covering more promotive and preventive services.

Furthermore, Sadikin estimated that the national cost of health spending will increase along with the increase in the aging population.

According to him, people tend to spend more on healthcare costs when they are older.

This is an important reason for business players to begin running preventive and promotive health businesses, especially as Indonesians could potentially spend US$81 billion on health.

Through the efforts, he said he expects that the average age of the Indonesian population will increase from 72 years to 76 years.

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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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