"Since it was first established, I have witnessed the extraordinary development of BPJS Kesehatan," he said at the National Meeting on Health Facilities in Jakarta on Monday.
The efforts made by BPJS Kesehatan to provide easy, quality, and cheap access to health services for the community will help the country achieve the Golden Indonesia 2045 goal, he added.
According to the minister, good health is related to one of the requirements for a developed country status, wherein each person needs to generate a per capita income of US$12,500 per year.
"In order to earn that amount of money, a person must be smart and healthy," he explained.
Moreover, the minister said, a number of achievements by his ministry and BPJS Kesehatan have also refuted doubts cast by a number of parties, which also accused them of talking too much about health costs.
According to him, health costs need to be discussed upfront to prevent people from getting used to curative or treatment patterns, which would increase the fee borne by BPJS Kesehatan.
"Our focus is shifting slowly to promotive and preventive. We are suggesting early check-ups to avoid stroke and cancer, which will cost a lot in the future," he informed.
He said that his ministry is also supporting BPJS Kesehatan's efforts to increase the number of new participants, including by providing mammography devices for screening breast cancer. According to him, only 400 such devices are available in Indonesia.
"If breast cancer is detected early, 90 percent can be cured. Meanwhile, there are a lot of deaths in Indonesia caused by this disease due to late detection," he said.
Therefore, the success of BPJS Kesehatan in resolving the demand for health services must also be strengthened by the Health Ministry's effort to fulfill supplies for health services, the minister added.
"In the near future, we will open wider cooperation with more hospitals and clinics. I also believe in 2030, we all will be healthy and be able to become a developed country," Sadikin said.
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Translator: Sean Muhamad, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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