Antara, Jakarta – Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Health Minister, stated that the Indonesian government currently pushes the domestic health system toward disease prevention and screening rather than medication.
The government encourages the Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) and health insurances to start allocating funding more toward health prevention and promotion, the minister noted during the 2022 Kompas100 CEO Forum event, on Friday.
"Thus, 14 health screenings are currently covered by BPJS. Earlier, everything was only for medication," he remarked.
The Health Ministry recorded that average spending for Indonesians' health stood at US$112 per capita per year, with an average life expectancy of 72 years.
This figure is lower as compared to other Asian countries, such as Malaysia, where the average spending for health is US$431 per capita per year, with the average life expectancy of 76 years.
Japan and Singapore each spend US$4,800 and US$2,800 for health, on average, with a life expectancy of 84 years and 80 years respectively.
Meanwhile, the US' average health spending stood at US$10,000 per capita per year, with the average life expectancy of 79 years.
"This spending will rise along with our aging population," Sadikin remarked.
This data indicates that Singapore is a country with the most effective health system. Both Singapore and Japan can become more efficient as compared to Indonesia, as the two countries implement the prevention system more, he noted.
Meanwhile, Indonesians will only do a medical checkup if they are feeling sick.
On the occasion, the minister also encouraged CEOs that attended the event to start to promote health businesses oriented toward screening.
"Start from simple screening, such as for cholesterol, blood sugar, hypertension, or genome sequence, which is more advanced," he explained.
"Promotional and preventive spending will become the trend for every government," he remarked.