Jakarta, IO – The House of Representatives (DPR) finally passed the health bill into law at the 29th plenary session on Tuesday (11/7).
The meeting was chaired by Speaker Puan Maharani, accompanied by Deputy Speakers Lodewijk Freidrich Paulus and Rachmat Gobel, per Republika.
Puan said that there were six factions that supported the law, namely PDIP, Golkar, Gerindra, PKB, PAN, and PPP. NasDem approved but with some notes, while the Democratic Party and PKS completely rejected it.
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Lawmaker from the Democratic Party faction Dede Yusuf Macan Effendi explained that there were three reasons his party rejected the bill, one being the government’s decision to abolish mandatory health spending by five percent of the state budget (APBN).
“Mandatory spending on health is still very much needed in order to guarantee the fulfillment of public health services and in order to reach the level of the human development index,” said Dede.
Meanwhile, member of House Committee IX of the PKS faction, Netty Prasetiyani, viewed that the bill can potentially eliminate jobs for Indonesian medical and health workers.
“The loss of job opportunities for Indonesian workers, whether it’s because of the entry of foreign workers or because of the loss of regulations to protect them is certainly unacceptable,” said Netty.
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She emphasized that there needs to be legal protection for medical personnel and health workers, both for safety, health, security, as well as the dignity of domestic medical personnel, so that criminalization can be avoided.
Previously, chairman of the House Committee on Health Bill, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, explained that the bill consisted of 20 chapters with 458 articles which, he claimed, contains substances that support the implementation of health transformation in Indonesia. (at)