Gov’t to Complete Internet Access Provision to 3,126 Health Facilities by December

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called for a reform on health sector, including by providing internet access to support health facilities in 3,126 puskesmas (community health centers) and hospitals across the country.

“The pandemic has taught us many things. We also learned about our weaknesses that we must address. Use the pandemic as a momentum to conduct transformation, including to reform healthcare system in our country,” President Jokowi said in a video called “Terujung Terkoneksi (Connected the Outermost)”, uploaded on his YouTube channel on Thursday (24/12).

In the meantime, Minister of Communications and Informatics Johnny G. Plate said that the Government to complete internet access provision for thousands of health facilities by December 2020.

Internet access in health facilities will give long-term support to community health programs. It includes programs to reduce maternal mortality rate, to prevent stunting, to support the implementation of Healthy Indonesia Program through family, and to improve health services through telemedicine.

In October, the Minister has asserted the Government’s commitment in accelerating internet access provision in health facilities to speed up COVID-19 handling. The Government also has been focusing on three main agendas, namely optimization of telecommunication between and among the health facilities, improvement in data collection of the health facilities, and utilization of digital health apps in 3T (frontier, outermost, and underdeveloped) regions.

For the record, there are 13,011 health facilities in Indonesia, consisting of 2,877 hospitals and 10,134 puskesmas. Approximately 3,126 of which still need better access to the internet, based on assessment from the Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) of Ministry of Communications and Informatics. (Ministry of Communications and Informatics PR/UN) (RAS/LW)