This is what has been asked by President Joko Widodo to us, InJourney, to keep it (people’s healthcare spending) from being spent abroad.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - State-run tourism holding PT Aviasi Pariwisata Indonesia (Persero) or InJourney has said that it expects the Sanur Bali Health Economic Zone (KEK) to be made operational in the first quarter of 2024.

"We hope that (the construction in) Sanur KEK will be completed in November this year (in 2023) and it can operate in the first quarter of 2024," president director of InJourney, Dony Oskaria, said at the “Indonesia Tourism Outlook 2023,” here on Wednesday.

Currently, his party is developing a 43-hectare health economic zone in Sanur Village, South Denpasar Sub-district, Denpasar City, Bali Province.

The area will house an international standard hospital and clinic built in collaboration with a party from the United States, a surgery clinic and retirement home from South Korea, a fertility clinic from Australia, as well as an immunology center from Japan.

A large convention hall is being built in Sanur KEK, which will be completed in August 2023, he added.

The tourism holding will also establish one thousand hotel rooms in Sanur KEK to make the region the first health tourism area in Indonesia.

Oskaria said that the development of the KEK has been in keeping with President Widodo’s (Jokowi’s) directive to help Indonesian people get superior domestic health services.

Widodo noted earlier that there are about two million Indonesians who seek treatment abroad and spend Rp97.5 trillion every year.

“This is what has been asked by President Joko Widodo to us, InJourney, to keep it (people’s healthcare spending) from being spent abroad,” the InJourney president director added.

Earlier, State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir had said he was optimistic that the development of the first health and tourism special economic zone in Indonesia would boost the local and national economy.

The total investment to develop the KEK stood at Rp10.2 trillion. After being fully operational in 2024, the Sanur KEK is estimated to absorb around 43 thousand workers.

In 2045, the Sanur KEK is expected to contribute up to US$1.28 billion or Rp19.6 trillion to Indonesia’s foreign exchange.

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Translator: Aji Cakti, Uyu Septiyati Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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