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Yearender 2022: Doubts linger over Indonesia’s healthcare system transformation
Just when the COVID-19 pandemic began to show signs of easing, a series of unexpected illnesses this year raised the stakes even further.
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A baby receives the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine for tuberculosis during a national immunization for children program at an integrated services post in Banda Aceh on June 9, 2022. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)
J
ust when the COVID-19 pandemic began to show signs of easing, a series of unexpected illnesses this year raised the stakes even further for the Health Ministry's ongoing efforts to reform the healthcare system, which faces the task of safeguarding the country from future outbreaks and finally stamping out the coronavirus.
Like many countries in the world, the Indonesian healthcare system was ill-equipped to deal with arguably the toughest modern health crisis when the country reported its first case in March 2020.
The government provided the newly formed National Economic and COVID-19 Recovery Committee (KPCPEN) with a war chest of Rp 695.2 trillion (US$44.5 million) that year to fund the country’s pandemic-handling effort.
The figure rose to Rp 744.4 trillion in 2021 before it went down to Rp 455.6 trillion this year.
But, the government has decided to cut the pandemic fund starting next year, in an attempt to cast the nation’s focus wider than the coronavirus.
To this end, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin penned a ministerial regulation in July that instructed regional administrations to follow a national healthcare transformation blueprint that prioritized illness prevention, rather than treatment.
When he announced the program in May, Budi outlined six core aspects that will be improved through the transformation plan: primary healthcare services, referral services, healthcare system resilience, financing, human resources and technology.
