Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi"' Widodo inaugurated Wednesday the largest hospital in the eastern part of Indonesia that cost hundreds of billions of rupiahs to build.

The Dr. Ben Mboi Central Public Hospital lies in Kupang, the capital city of East Nusa Tenggara. The overall building measures 35,000 square meters on a land of 14 hectares.

"This is the largest hospital in Eastern Indonesia, particularly East Nusa Tenggara. ... We spent approximately Rp 420 billion [about $27 million] to build the hospital. That deserves an applause. It is really a huge amount of money," Jokowi told the inauguration ceremony.

"But [the spending] already got the House of Representatives' approval. So I'd like to thank them for that," Jokowi said.

According to Jokowi, the hospital comes with MRI and CT scan facilities, both used to capture images of the inside of a patient's body. A single CT scan equipment alone can cost about Rp 20 billion.

The freshly inaugurated hospital is also expected to make it easier for locals to access healthcare.

"So there is no need to travel to Jakarta [for medical treatment]. We have everything you need here. But what is of utmost importance is we need to immediately hire more human capital, especially specialists and subspecialists to close the gap in doctors," Jokowi said.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/govt-spends-rp420b-to-build-eastern-indonesias-largest-hospita