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View all search resultsMore foreign doctors won’t hurt
There should be more doctors outside of big cities to ensure better access to good health services in rural areas.
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T
here are many reasons to disagree with the omnibus bill on health currently being debated in the House of Representatives. Many fear that the bill, which merges 10 laws that govern the health industry, will dismantle associations of medical professionals and bring uncertainty to both the industry as a whole and to the standards and practices of said professionals.
As it also seeks to eliminate mandatory health spending and encourages foreign doctors to open practices in the country, critics have accused the bill of liberalizing the country’s health sector.
But we must observe the bill more carefully before we reject it.
The omnibus law, if passed, will replace critical laws, including Law No. 36/2009 on health, Law No. 44/2009 on hospitals and Law No.18/2014 on mental health, as well as specialized laws that regulate physicians, dentists, nurses and midwives.
Associations of the medical professionals have taken to the streets to protest the bill amid concerns that the bill will put jobs at risk.
Job security and the welfare of medical workers should be a priority, as we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we witnessed the dedication of healthcare workers on the frontline battling the disease and putting their lives at risk to care for their patients.
We must also keep in mind that our healthcare system remains far from perfect. There is a scarcity of medical professionals in Indonesia despite the health law which requires the government to allocate at least 5 percent of the state budget and 10 percent of the provincial budget to public health.
