Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Lawmakers criticized on Monday over accusations that the Health Ministry has yet to allocate sufficient budgets for basic health services for women and children.
Lawmakers grilled Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, who has proposed an additional health budget of Rp 7.1 trillion for 2012, but gave less attention to such programs.
Surya Chandra Surapaty of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) stressed the importance of exclusive breast feeding for newborns to improve their immune systems.
"Exclusive breast feeding must become a national program to make newborns and children intelligent and to create quality human resources in the future," he said during a hearing at the House of Representatives.
The provision of breast feeding facilities in public places is urgent due to the increasing number of career women in urban areas, especially in big cities, he said.
"The government should not give more access to the intensive advertising of formula milk products but should instead campaign for exclusive breast feeding. Besides issuing the government regulation, the government should have regional administrations to insert the breast feeding facilities," said Surya, who is also a physician.
Subagyo Partodihardjo of the Democratic Party (PD) stressed the importance of mothers providing exclusive breast feeding for their newborns for at least for six months because breast feeding would maintain newborns' health and aid the healthy intellectual development of under-fives'.
"Mothers, especially career women, should bear in mind that their newborns will need exclusive breast feeding within two years and have to feed their newborns and children with nutritious food such as tofu, tempeh and eggs to help them grow," he said.
Subagyo, also a specialist in Jember, East Java, said the government should launch nutritional information to correct misunderstood consumption styles.
Anita Yacoba, another PD legislator, said West Nusa Tenggara, was one of Indonesia's least developed provinces, where most people had no access to health services, leading to the highest mortality rate among mothers and their children.
"Most people in the provincial capital of Kupang are not yet aware of the so-called free health care program for the poor [Jamkesmas] and free maternity services [Jampersal]. Remote regions have no public health centers, specialists or generic medicines," she said.
Endang said that the draft regulation, which is in its finishing stages at the Law and Human Rights Ministry, is aimed at supporting the national program to provide at least six-month exclusive breast feeding for newborns and to help support intelligent children and more qualified human resources in the future.