Indonesians' life expectancy among lowest in Southeast Asia

Indonesians' life expectancy among lowest in Southeast Asia

Indonesians' life expectancy is among the lowest in Southeast
Asia because most cannot afford medical services, a health
ministry official said Thursday.

"The life expectancy rate of Indonesians is 65 years,
Bruneians 76, Singaporeans 77, Malaysians 72, Thais 72, Filipinos
69 and Vietnamese 68," said the director-general for public
health development, Azrul Azwar.

Azrul, quoted by the state Antara news agency, said the
absence of a compulsory health insurance scheme nationwide is to
blame.

"Most Indonesian citizens pay for their medical care in cash.
Thus, only rich citizens or those taking part in health insurance
programs can afford medical services," he said.

The government has completed a bill on a national health
guarantee scheme, he said.

When it becomes law each citizen will have to pay up to five
or six percent of their income as a premium, he was quoted as
saying after a hearing of a parliamentary welfare commission.

A United Nations report released last July said Southeast
Asia's largest country Indonesia is also among the least
successful in improving the welfare of its people.

Indonesia ranked seventh out of the ten members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- above Myanmar, Cambodia
and Laos -- in the Human Development Index compiled for the
United Nations Development Program.

The index measures life expectancy, adult literacy, school and
college enrollment and per capita gross domestic product. -- AFP