Parties ignore health issues

Leony Aurora , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The country's political parties lack any form of concern about health issues, a non-governmental organization says.

The Legal Aid Institute for Health (LBH Kesehatan) drew its conclusion from the fact that only a quarter of the parties attended the health discussions it held on five consecutive days, ending on Saturday.

Out of the 24 parties qualified to contest the April 5 election, only the United Development Party (PPP), the Golkar Party, the Pancasila Patriot Party, the New Indonesia Alliance Party (PPIB), the Indonesian Nahdlatul Community Party (PPNUI) and the Social Democratic Labor Party (PBSD) sent representatives to the discussions.

"However, none of them were willing to sign the health contract, which we intend to draft," said Iskandar Sitorus of LBH Kesehatan.

He said the document would state that the parties promised to do certain things to ensure public access to health if they managed to win seats in the legislative bodies. Details of the contract were still being discussed, Iskandar said.

"If they signed the contracts, we would have a legal basis to sue them if they did otherwise," he said.

During the meetings, several observers, including former Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) chairman Kartono Mohamad, said the parties were only concerned about how to win seats.

Iskandar said there were some parties that had criticized the LBH Kesehatan for organizing the discussions during the election campaign.

"This is ridiculous, we sent the invitations out on March 16 and March 17, a week before the discussions started," he said.

Of the parties that turned up, only two presented papers on their health programs and distributed them to the audience.

"The best among the worst were Golkar and the PPP. At least they slightly understood the current health system," said Iskandar. "However, they did not know how to build an ideal health system."

Unsatisfied with the attitude of parties to the discussions, the LBH Kesehatan is planning to hold a public debate on health issues with the presidential candidates in June.