Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Many Indonesians prefer to seek treatment abroad, especially Malaysia and Singapore. Not without reason, there are many reasons why they prefer that country over Indonesia.

Dr. Adib Khumaidi, General Chair of the Executive Board of the Indonesian Doctors Association (PB IDI), said the reason why many Indonesians seek treatment in Malaysia and Singapore. Apart from cheaper medicine and transportation, according to him, there is comfort for patients in communicating with doctors. According to him, this needs to be noted by a number of medical personnel in Indonesia so that they can improve the quality of service.

“Now we always say that the communication skills of doctors in Indonesia must be improved, because one of the reasons why patients go abroad for treatment, go to Malaysia or Singapore, is one of the reasons why they think the communication is better there than in Indonesia,” said Adib was quoted as saying by detikcom, some time ago.

“Why is financing cheap? Because there are state policies, state regulations regarding free tax, especially health services to the community,” concluded Dr. Adib.

Previously, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) revealed that the number of Indonesians going back and forth abroad for treatment was more than 1 million people. Indonesia is clearly disadvantaged from this condition. Because, there is the potential for lost economic value.

“We lost US$ 11.5 billion, if you convert it into rupiah, Rp. 180 T is lost because our people don't want to seek treatment domestically,” said Jokowi while attending the National Health Working Meeting at ICE BSD, Tangerang, Wednesday (24/4/2024).

According to government records, the favorite medical destination countries for Indonesians include Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and the United States.

Jokowi realized that Indonesia was lagging behind in the health sector. Currently, the ratio of doctors in Indonesia is at the level of 0.47 compared to the total population in the country.

Referring to the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO), the ideal ratio of the number of doctors, including general practitioners and specialists, is 1/1000 or 1 doctor per 1000 population. If a country succeeds in meeting the “golden line”, it can be categorized as successful and responsible to its people in the health sector.

The latest figures obtained from WHO and the World Bank, Indonesia's ratio is 0.47/1000. This figure brings Indonesia to the third lowest position in ASEAN after Laos 0.3/1000 and Cambodia 0.42/1000.

To overcome this problem, Jokowi said that the Health Law had been revised to make it easier for young Indonesians to enter medical education, including specialist doctors, of whom there are far fewer.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(miq/miq)