Ombudsman: Eliminating Discrimination Ensures Fair Public Services
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia (ORI) has asserted that the elimination of discrimination is a vital part of the effort to ensure that the public receives fair public services.
Ombudsman RI member Nuzran Joher stated that public services must reach all members of society without differentiating between specific groups.
“One of these is in healthcare services, which must adhere to the principle of justice,” Nuzran said when confirmed in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He explained that this encompasses distributive justice by ensuring services are available to all layers of society, procedural justice through transparent and non-discriminatory service, and corrective justice through public complaint mechanisms.
He expressed appreciation for the drafting of the Guidelines for the Elimination of Stigma and Discrimination in Healthcare Services, which was discussed by the Ministry of Health in Jakarta on Tuesday (18/8).
According to him, the drafting of these guidelines is part of providing certainty that no discrimination exists, meaning that the people want public services to be truly accessible to all members of society without discrimination.
He hopes that the Guidelines for the Elimination of Stigma and Discrimination in Healthcare Services can serve as a reference in strengthening the provision of healthcare services that are fair, easily accessible, and free from stigma or discrimination.
Nuzran argued that the prevention of maladministration must be carried out from the upstream level to ensure that the state’s obligation to provide services to the community is truly fulfilled.
“Therefore, the presence of the Ombudsman RI is at the upstream level to provide certainty to the people, from the central to the regional levels. The state is present to provide guarantees, ensuring that public services are truly felt,” he said.
In the drafting of the guidelines for the elimination of stigma and discrimination, he assessed that there are several aspects that need to be strengthened, namely orderly administration, service processes that run according to rules and standard operating procedures (SOP), service transparency, fulfilment of Minimum Service Standards (SPM), as well as services that are open, easily accessible, fair, and non-discriminatory.
The Head of the Ministry of Health’s HIV Working Team, Dr Tirsa Vera Junita, stated that the elimination of stigma and discrimination is one of three important targets in the fight against HIV/AIDS, alongside achieving zero new infections and zero deaths due to AIDS.
According to her, stigma and discrimination can act as a barrier to achieving the targets for HIV/AIDS control.
Therefore, she added, increasing the capacity of officers in healthcare facilities is crucial so that people living with HIV continue to have access to healthcare services without the fear of receiving discriminatory treatment.
Through the drafting of the Guidelines for the Elimination of Stigma and Discrimination in Healthcare Services, the Ombudsman RI and the Ministry of Health are expected to strengthen cross-sector collaboration to ensure the provision of inclusive healthcare services.
The guidelines will not only serve as an administrative reference but can also be implemented in practice by service providers so that the entire community receives healthcare services that are fair, easily accessible, and free from stigma and discrimination.