President Jokowi Urges Continuous Improvement of Health Services at Salatiga Regional General Hospital

President Jokowi inspects health services at Salatiga Regional General Hospital, Central Java, Monday (01/22). (Photo by: Presidential Secretariat’s Bureau of Press, Media, and Information/BPMI)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inspected the Regional General Hospital (RSUD) of Salatiga City, Central Java, Monday (01/22) morning. He said that his visit to the hospital was aimed at checking the quality of health services to the community.

“I want to check the hospital’s services to the patients or people who need the services,” said the President after the inspection.

According to the President, the services provided by Salatiga Regional General Hospital for patients, including those using the Healthy Indonesia Cards (KIS) and Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) Cards, are very good.

“I asked earlier whether there were any fees charged, there weren’t any. There is no limitation of patients’ stay at this hospital either. I think this is good,” he said.

However, the President admitted that health services at the hospital still encounter several problems, ranging from queues to inadequate facilities. Therefore, he expressed his hope that the health services and facilities at the hospital are to be continuously improved in the future.

“[This hospital needs to] speed up its services, shorten the queue, and then improve its facilities, because earlier I saw people queuing still crowded each other due to the inadequacy of the available room,” he said.

Endah, one of the residents, said that the services at Salatiga Regional General Hospital are quite good and fast. She has been taking his parents for medical treatment to the hospital for almost 10 years and she feels very much helped.

“This is my father’s third operation. The first one was for removing stones in his bladder, the second one was for his prostate, and this one is for removing his kidney stones,” said Endah.

“I’ve been taking my father to this hospital for almost 10 years. Alhamdulillah [thank God], it is very helpful because it is free of charge. I hope this will continue,” said Endah.

Likewise, Tri Wahono also took advantage of the health services at the Salatiga Regional General Hospital for his son’s speech delay therapy. Tri hopes that the BPJS program can continue.

“I hope it will continue because it helps grass-root communities. We feel really helped by the program,” said Tri. (TGH/UN) (TM/LW)