"There were 25 top topics with the most inputs during the public hearings, website, and letters, namely hospitals issues, health workers, abortion, the social security system, and drug and pharmaceutical independence," the minister said during a working meeting with Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) in Jakarta on Wednesday.
In addition, the most common topics mentioned on the ministry's website were related to the grouping and qualifications of health human resources, registration and licensing, the National Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Health), and hospitals, the minister informed.
"There was also one high topic regarding robots as our future health workers," he added.
Sadikin said that his ministry organized public participation and socialization of the Health Bill from March 13–31, 2023, which involved 115 public participation activities, 1,200 invited policymakers, and 72 thousand participants.
During this activity, the Ministry of Health collected 6,011 inputs related to the Health Bill through public hearings. About 75 percent of them have been followed up on based on the results of consideration and explanation, Sadikin said.
Issues related to hospitals have been widely discussed by the public after the government highlighted the phenomenon of patients seeking treatment abroad, he noted.
Meanwhile, issues regarding the uneven distribution of doctors and specialists and the high cost of medical education have also been widely discussed, he added.
The DPR officially sent the draft of the Health Bill to the government last week for joint discussion, after the bill was passed as an initiative of the DPR at a plenary session in February 2023.
The President has appointed Sadikin as the coordinator and the government's representative for discussions on the bill with the DPR.
Other ministers chosen to represent the government are the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology; Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform; Minister of Home Affairs; Minister of Finance; and Minister of Law and Human Rights.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Resinta S
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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