Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the 2024 National Health Work Meeting, at Nusantara Hall ICE BSD, Tangerang Regency Banten Province, April 24, 2024
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,
Assalamu ’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Good morning,
May prosperity be upon all of us,
Shalom,
Oh swastiastu,
Namo Buddhaya,
Greeting of Virtues,
Distinguished Minister of Health, Cabinet Secretary, Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform,
Distinguished Leaders of Commission IX of the House of Representatives present here,
Distinguished all echelon I and echelon II officials of the Ministry of Health and the Heads of the Technical Management Units of the Ministry of Health; are you all present here this morning? Where are you?
Distinguished Heads of Provincial, Regency and City Health Services Units; raise your hands. OK, I’ve seen many of you,
Distinguished all regional hospital directors, Heads of Provincial, Regency and City Development Planning Boards from all over Indonesia; I haven’t asked, you’ve already answered you are present here,
Distinguished leaders of international institutions present here this morning, participants of the National Health Work Meeting,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have often reiterated that our country has the opportunity and the chance to become a developed country, as predicted from many calculations such as GDP (gross domestic products) and per-capita income. There is a big chance that we will transform into a developed country. Therefore, the next 15-20 years will be a crucial period for us because the peak of our demographic bonus will be in the 2030s.
Everyone must first understand this problem. The peak of our demographic bonus will be in the 2030s and 68 percent of our population at that time will be at productive age. This is a big opportunity and such an opportunity usually occurs only once in a country’s civilization. It doesn’t happen twice, let alone three times. If we can use this opportunity, we will leap fast into a developed country. But if not, sorry, the countries in Latin America in 1950s, 1960s, 1970s were already developing countries. However, because they could not make the most of the existing opportunities, they still remain developing countries up to now. This should not happen to our country Indonesia. Agree?
And, health is very important, essential, very fundamental. As Minister of Health has said earlier, being smart but not healthy will turn useless. No applause, I’m telling you something unpleasant about being unhealthy. And all of you, Ladies and Gentlemen, have a very significant role in creating a healthy society for a developed Indonesia, for a Golden Indonesia, and this opportunity should not be lost in vain.
As we know, we still have big homework. Stunting has reduced from 37.6 percent in 10 years ago to 21.5 percent at the end of last year. It has reduced by almost a half, but we should reach at least 14 percent this year. But, I have done the calculations and it turns out to be not easy. However, I don’t know if we can achieve the 14 percent this year, because this work must be done in an integrated manner. Besides stunting, we also have to deal with deaths due to non-communicable diseases. The most common of such diseases is stroke which causes around 330 thousand deaths per year. The second one is heart disease which causes approximately 300 thousand deaths per year in our country. And, the third one is cancer. This is our great job.
However, we know that community health centers have now been supplied with laboratory equipment, ultrasound, and ECG (electrocardiogram) to deal as early as possible with the health problems I’ve just mentioned. Has the equipment arrived yet? Ultrasound, ECG, already?
Now every time I visit regions, I take time to do sampling in the regional hospitals. I go straight to the hospitals, not because I’m sick. I visit hospitals owned by the central government, provincial governments, regency and city governments. I just want to make sure that the regional hospitals are ready to receive the equipment like CT scans, mammograms, catheterization labs. In some of the hospitals I have checked, the equipment is already there but I see that the room available there sometimes doesn’t support its operation. The equipment costs tens of billions rupiah but the room is terrible, inappropriate, while the room must be suitable because the equipment is sophisticated, ultramodern.
Mr. Health Minister, please give one or two examples of how the appropriate room must be. Let the hospital directors see the examples and learn that the appropriate and good room must be like this or like that.
And also, the regional hospitals in the provinces that I’ve visited have also been supplied with MR-Linac (magnetic resonance-guided linear accelerator). Is that correct? Some have received it. Of course, not all hospitals have been yet supplied with it because this also requires the readiness of the human resources and the availability of funds.
Yesterday I was admitted to the regional hospital in Mempawah Regency, West Kalimantan Province. Is the hospital’s president director present here? Raise your hand. Are you afraid? I want to praise the hospital as a good one, built with a good layout. Only later, after being praised like this, will the president director raise his hand and say, “I am, Sir.” The hospital’s layout is good, the light from outside also comes in very well. And, what I have to give thumbs up to is that the hospital was built at a cost of more than Rp200 billion, all of which came from the regional budget. The hospital, if I’m not mistaken, is Rubini Hospital.
Indeed, our biggest problem is the shortage of doctors and specialist doctors. This is our big problem. And please be aware, Ladies and Gentlemen, that our physician’s ratio is still 0.47, ranking 147th in the world. That is our ranking, we have to know. That is what we will strive to improve. Therefore, there is a need for a long-term and a medium-term development plans in the health sector.
Why did we ask the Regional Development Planning Board to be present here? Because we need to connect everything, from the long-term development plan, the medium-term development plan, the health master plan, to the regions’ plans, everything must be connected. Don’t let the Central Government and regional governments take opposite directions, that’s what I need to emphasize this morning. Everything must be in line, there must be a single direction regarding what to do. Whatever we have to do, we do it together. Therefore, this morning we are consolidating and integrating our efforts so that our joint work produces concrete solutions to the health problems we are facing.
When will the master plan for health sector be completed, Mr. Health Minister? Mr. Minister has stated that the master plan will be completed in August. It must serve as a national guideline, which must be followed by central, provincial, district and city governments, as well as private sectors. Everything must be synchronized, in line, harmonized, and must not be disintegrated. We will not produce anything if we do not work in an integrated manner. I am sure that if everyone works in an integrated manner, we will achieve significant progress in our country’s health sector.
Lastly, we must strengthen our domestic health industry. I have reiterated that more than one million Indonesian citizens are seeking medical treatment abroad, to Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Europe, America, and we lost US$11.5 billion or equivalent to Rp180 trillion. We lost as much as Rp180 trillion because our citizens were unwilling to seek medical treatment domestically and there must be a reason behind their unwillingness. This is a problem we must resolve.
Moreover, 90 percent of pharmaceutical production materials are still imported. Then 52 percent of our medical equipment is still dominated by imports. It is okay if we still have to import sophisticated equipment like what I’ve mentioned earlier, but we have to stop importing and strive to produce ourselves simple equipment like needles, hospital beds, intravenous equipment, tubes.
That concludes my remarks in this auspicious occasion. And, by saying bismillahirrahmanirrahim, this morning I officially open the 2024 National Health Work Meeting.
I thank you.
Wassalamu ’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.