Jakarta (ANTARA) - A hospital based on an environmentally friendly concept will be built in the new capital city (IKN) Nusantara and is scheduled to become operational in the second semester of 2024, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated.

"We hope in the second semester of 2024, the hospital will be ready to operate and provide health services for mothers and children, handling emergencies, handling cases of heart disease, stroke, and orthopedic," he noted during the hospital's groundbreaking for the construction by private investors in IKN Nusantara, East Kalimantan, Wednesday.

According to Jokowi, this hospital, which is the second one to be built in IKN Nusantara, will be based on an environmentally friendly concept that supports the acceleration and development of IKN as the first capital city in the world with a forest city concept.

As much as 20 percent of the total land area of the hospital will be used as a green area, equipped with healing garden facilities, he remarked.

"The hospital will have a park to help accelerate patient recovery. Patients can enjoy the green scenery in the hospital for their quick recovery," Jokowi remarked.

He also urged that the hospital, developed by Mayapada investors, be able to set an example of an environmentally friendly hospital by optimizing the utilization of technology and efficient use of water and energy.

"Also by maximizing the use of natural light and building a wastewater recycling system as well as providing absorption ponds to absorb rainwater to be reused," the president added.

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Furthermore, he reminded that a good service system should also be established for patients participating in the national health insurer (BPJS Health).

"Do not forget about BPJS Health patients. The construction of this hospital must also continue, (so) do not stop after the groundbreaking," the head of state emphasized.

Jokowi believes that the hospital will have good facilities, as the management company has experience and a network of collaborations with hospital companies from abroad.

Through improving health facilities in the country, the president is optimistic that the number of Indonesian patients seeking treatment abroad would decrease. He drew attention to the fact that some two million Indonesians seek treatment abroad every year.

"The cost is almost Rp100 trillion from those two million people. Every year, our people pay that amount of money for foreign treatment," he stated.

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Translator: Indra Arief P, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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