"I cannot issue a presidential decree to prohibit people from seeking medical treatment abroad. So if we wish to make people prefer medical treatment here, let us improve our bargaining power and capacity by increasing the skills and capability of our medical personnel who I think are extraordinary," he said in his speech at the opening of the Mochtar Riady Comprehensive Cancer Center (MRCCC) here on Thursday.
He said the country`s doctors were not inferior compared to those in other countries and even in some cases a lot of them become reference doctors for overseas doctors.
Therefore, he said, he was optimistic Indonesia could improve its health services by improving its medical equipment and facilities.
He said Indonesia could someday become a reference for health services for foreign patients by developing certain superior services.
President Yudhoyono said for the past seven years as a president he had always checked his health in the country`s hospitals.
Therefore, he called on all his ministers to also do the same except if they were referred to overseas hospitals.
Like in the case of several Indonesian universities that are able to be in the group of world top universities he said the country`s hospitals should also be able to be among the world`s best.
He therefore called for a partnership between the government as regulator, businesses that provide health services and universities as centers of development and research to improve the technology and facilities in health services in the country to become the best.
The President then ordered the health minister to promote and take the best initiative to ensure that the partnership among the three parties could work well.
(T.D013*F008/H-YH/HAJM/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
