Govt to restrict medical practice

Govt to restrict medical practice

JAKARTA: The government will ban doctors and dentists from opening medical practices in more than three places as part of efforts to boost services for patients, the health minister announced on Wednesday.

"The practice licenses for doctors and dentists will be issued only for a maximum of three places," Siti Fadilah Supari said in Jakarta.

She said many doctors and dentists were involved in medical practices in six to seven places simultaneously, making them unable to provide good service to patients.

However, Siti added, the planned regulation would not be completely enforced to accommodate certain exceptional conditions, including limited doctors in remote areas.

The restrictions on doctors and dentists are part of government regulations to implement Law No. 29/2004 on medical practices. --Antara