Indonesia is a thriving, expanding nation of over 250 million people. Yet it is a nation set over 17,000 islands, with significant challenges to healthcare provision. According to 2013 research, Indonesia has just 1.07 hospital beds per 1,000 citizens[i]. Compare that to neighbour Malaysia with 1.9[ii] beds per 1,000 citizens, and you start to see the challenge. Now consider that challenge in the context of a population estimated to reach 300 million over the next 10 years.
The Indonesian Government has made great steps towards catering for this need, applying significant resources to the provision of universal healthcare. The National Health Insurance (JKN) programme aims to ensure that all citizens have the right of, and access to, adequate and appropriate healthcare. As of March 2016, as many as 163 million people[iii] are covered by this scheme. That number is expected to reach 188 million by the end of 2016.
The ultimate goal is to ensure the entire population of Indonesia is covered by the end of 2019. Achieving that admirable aim will be a challenge indeed, and to meet it, we will need to focus not simply on provision, but provide wider education as to the benefits of healthcare to individuals and the nation as a whole. With Innovation that Cares, GE aims to help support that goal.
Supporting care, supporting hospitals
Indonesia today has around 1,979 general hospitals and 544 speciality hospitals[iv]. If universal healthcare is to be a reality, private and public organisations must work together to ensure those hospitals, and the wider healthcare environment, provides the most efficient, appropriate, and highest standard of care possible.
Yet the provision of adequate healthcare is not uniform. Rural areas in particular can suffer from the difficulties of access to appropriate healthcare. Key to meeting this need will be the C and D class hospitals which make up almost 60iv of hospitals in the country. These hospitals, often in rural areas, provide the vital first step in access to healthcare for a huge portion of Indonesia’s population. They provide an invaluable service to the community, offering key, but limited, healthcare access to meet local needs, or act as gateways to further specialist care when required.
Since the implementation of JKN, these C and D class hospitals are facing significant strain. Some are receiving as many as double the patients as they had prior to the programme being launched. This speaks positively towards the aims of and need for the JKN programme, but also of the need to support these hospitals as much as we are able.
Innovation and sustainable healthcare
GE is committed to investing in appropriate, sustainable healthcare for the world through our Healthymagination programme. At its heart is our belief that all people deserve access to appropriate healthcare, and through innovation and imagination we can deliver affordable, relevant solutions to healthcare challenges globally. With these sustainable healthcare solutions, we want to reach the estimated 5.8 billion people worldwide who lack access to adequate healthcare.
Innovation that Cares aligns that global knowledge with the national goals of the Indonesian Government, providing affordable, high-quality healthcare technology, utilising innovations such as GE’s portable V-scan ultrasound equipment. Accessible, affordable, portable and accurate healthcare equipment like this helps to improve patient outcomes, while reducing the burden on the healthcare system.
That commitment includes sharing the knowledge gained through GE’s extensive global experience. Working closely in partnership with the Association of Regional Hospitals (ARSADA), Family Welfare Programme, (PKK), and Board for Family Planning (BKKBN), GE hopes to collaborate on improving healthcare systems, delivering efficiency savings and expanding capacity of provision nationally. Ultimately efficiency is just a word, yet in the context of healthcare, what we’re describing is the commitment to supporting infrastructure that saves lives.
The importance of healthcare education
Helping to ensure the provision of care is only the first step. Any successful healthcare system must also be based on empowering people. That’s why education will be at the core of Innovation that Cares.
Indonesia has substantial opportunity to appreciate the rewards of this education. Over one third of deaths amongst Indonesians are due to cardiovascular disease, accounting for the largest share of deaths by non-communicable diseases which make up 71% of the 1.5 million deaths in Indonesia annually. These conditions are generally categorised by slow disease progression, and often disproportionately affect lower income areas.
Yet these conditions can often be addressed and moderated with appropriate education. Helping people understand the causes of these conditions can significantly impact mortality rates. This will not only save lives, but free resources to help deliver life-saving provision in other areas of healthcare. A 2015 report by the Harvard School of Public Health and World Economic Forum estimated the economic burden of cardiovascular disease in Indonesia sits at US$1.77 trillion annually.
Public education as part of Innovation that Cares will also play a vital role in targeting a reduction to infant mortality in Indonesia, another challenging area for the healthcare system to tackle, with over 112,000 infant deaths annually.
Through educational events and knowledge-sharing sessions, GE aims to directly reach over 100 healthcare workers within the first year alone, and a further 1,000 beneficiaries. That’s aside from the wider public education campaign.
A commitment to sustained healthcare
GE is committed to working closely with the Government of Indonesia, and the nation’s wider healthcare infrastructure, to provide sustainable healthcare that not only saves lives, but offers a better quality of life for all.
The government’s own drive to provide universal healthcare is an admirable goal, one that will remove the inequality of affordability and deliver improved outcomes for patients throughout the country.
Private organisations have a responsibility to support these goals in the best ways they know how. With our global experience in healthcare, and innovative solutions, GE hopes to play a significant role in doing just that. That’s not just Healthymagination at work, that’s Innovation that Cares.
[i] Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) 2013 data
[ii] World Bank, World Development Indicators: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.MED.BEDS.ZS
[iii] Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS) data March 2016
[iv] http://sirs.buk.depkes.go.id/rsonline/report/search.php
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