Jakarta, IO – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo lamented that a million Indonesians still choose to seek treatment abroad rather than domestically. Popular destinations include Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Europe and the US. This, according to him, has caused the country to lose hundreds of trillions of rupiah in foreign exchange.
“We lost US$11.5 billion, which converts to Rp180 trillion because our people don’t want to seek treatment domestically,” said Jokowi, per CNN Indonesia, Wednesday (24/4).
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Nevertheless, Jokowi said he understood why this happened. “Because the health care facilities and services in Indonesia are still not optimal. Thus, I have directed that the domestic healthcare industry be strengthened.”
Currently, Indonesia still imports around 90 percent of pharmaceutical products and more than 50 percent of medical devices. (un)