"Governments from both countries discussed and finalized several agreements that had been made previously," Head of the Communications and Public Services Bureau of the Health Ministry, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, remarked on Tuesday.
The retreat, which brought together Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, also discussed the finalization of Singapore's investment plan to build hospitals in the Sanur Health SEZ, Bali, and other regions in Indonesia, Tarmizi revealed.
She noted that the Sanur Denpasar Health SEZ will be built by SOE Holding PT Aviasi Wisata Indonesia (Persero), or InJourney, through its subsidiary PT Hotel Indonesia Natour (HIN) in collaboration with Indonesia Healthcare Corporation (IHC) on an area of 41.26 hectares.
In early 2024, some 16 health service centers and clinics are expected to be present at the Sanur SEZ, including 10 independent clinics and six service centers from Bali International Hospital (BIH).
The international independent clinics include the Mayo Clinic from the United States, an aesthetic clinic from South Korea, a hair transplant service from Turkey, a reproductive health clinic from Malaysia, the Alster Lake Clinic health clinic from Hamburg, and a health service from Japan, Tarmizi explained.
She stated that exploring Singapore's investment potential to bring international-class hospital services in the Sanur SEZ had been underway since the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, the Health Ministry, and the Singaporean Health Ministry started discussion via virtual meetings in February 2024.
"The discussion continued through a courtesy meeting agenda between the Indonesian minister of health and the Singapore minister of health on March 19, 2024, to follow up on the potential for cooperation in investing in the hospital," she remarked.
Apart from investment for the construction of hospital facilities, Tarmizi stated that the two countries also discussed strengthening the development of research in biomedical and genome sequencing in health services.
"In September 2023, the Indonesian health minister and CEO of the Temasek Foundation Singapore had an initiative to develop research in biomedical and genome sequencing in Indonesia, with an example of implementation in Singapore hospitals," she remarked.
According to Tarmizi, Temasek, as a Singaporean SOE, will provide support to increase the capacity of Indonesian health human resources through training and scholarships.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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