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ea Karina Artikasih, 27, an employee of an intergovernmental organization, normally depends on herself and her loved ones whenever she is not feeling well.

“When I have a cough, my mother will make me a mixture of honey and orange. We always try traditional methods first,” she told The Jakarta Post, recently.

Dea said she preferred to take care of herself or get help from family members because she did not trust the healthcare system in Indonesia, while also finding it too much of a hassle to go to a hospital.

Regardless of the reasons, what Dea practices is a lifelong habit and represents a culture of staying healthy through self-treatment based on knowledge and available information.

According to Sunitha Shanmugam, regulatory affairs director Southeast Asia at GSK Consumer Healthcare, self-care is an often underestimated component of the healthcare system but is also one of the most accessible forms of health care.

Therefore, promoting self-care is crucial for a country like Indonesia, which is facing the burden of infectious diseases and growing rates of chronic and non-communicable diseases.

At the same time, the majority of hospitals are of poor quality and the number of health workers is inadequate, she said.

People tend to go to hospitals to seek treatment for illnesses that can be easily treated at home through over-the-counter medicines, she added.

This has contributed to overcrowded hospitals and ballooning health costs.

According to Health Ministry data, 80 percent of National Health Insurance (JKN) participants go to hospital to be treated, while only 20 percent of them are treated at primary healthcare facilities, such as community health centers (Puskesmas).

“When people are engaged in self-care, unnecessary doctor visits can be avoided, which in turn takes pressure off the already over-burdened health system. These resources can be redeployed toward patients who really need them,” Sunitha told the The Jakarta Post.

One example of disease that can be prevented with self-care is cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death among non-communicable diseases in Indonesia.

Cardiovascular disease alone will account for 39.6 percent of the total loss of Indonesia’s GDP output from 2012 until 2030.

People suffering from heart problems usually have to go to hospitals and then get treated for weeks.

“That’s expensive and terrible. Do you know what can prevent that and is cheap? A bathroom scale,” said Peter Edelstein, the chief medical officer of Elsevier, an international medical information, products and services provider.

He said scientific studies showed that mild increases in weight are the earliest sign of a deteriorating heart condition. And people with cardiovascular diseases needed to be educated to check their weight regularly, he added.

“If your weight goes up by this little bit in a day, you need to contact your doctor who will increase some of the medication. Because if you don’t, in five to seven days you’ll be in the hospital. If we can change your medication before then, your life is better and we don’t spend that much money,” Peter said.

Therefore, patient engagement and education was the key to solving the concerns over the country’s inability to cater for the growing domestic demand for health care, especially following the introduction of the JKN program.

“Proper education around self-care options will help reduce the burden on the healthcare system by reducing recurring visits to the doctor,” Sunitha said.