Physician calls for better emergency health services
Physician calls for better emergency health services
JAKARTA (JP): A senior physician urged yesterday that pre-
hospital care be included in health, social and life insurance
policies to help improve the overall quality of emergency health
services.
The head of the Indonesian Surgical Association's trauma
committee, Dr Aryono Pusponegoro, said the government should
encourage insurance companies to widen their coverage without
adding the premium to insurance holders.
He argued that widening the coverage would help improve the
overall quality of emergency health care.
"We need the (emergency health care) facilities apart from a
good health insurance system," he said, adding that without the
allocation of funds emergency medical services would not improve.
"The health insurance should pay for that," he told The
Jakarta Post.
Speaking after a seminar on emergency medical care yesterday,
Pusponegoro said pre-hospital care was currently not included in
insurance policies, such as traffic accident insurance from the
state-owned PT Jasa Raharja or health insurance from state-owned
PT ASKES.
Physicians from the United Kingdom and Indonesia used the one-
day seminar to exchange information on emergency medical services
and equipment.
Another speaker at the seminar Dr Karjadi Wirioatmodjo said
that improved emergency health services meant better training and
education for medics and nurses.
Karjadi, a physician at the Dr. Sutomo Hospital in Surabaya,
East Java, said Indonesia as a developing country until a few
years ago primarily focused on maternal and children's health
care, family planning and nutrition.
But with industrialization, health trends also changed. "The
number of accidents, especially road accidents, increased
dramatically," he said adding that this stimulated an increased
interest in the development of emergency medical services.
While highlighting the need for better emergency medical
services, Karjadi stressed the importance of preventing the
likelihood of accidents.
He said the increasing number of casualties in accidents and
at working sites resulted from a lack of awareness toward
individual safety.
"The most important thing is to change their mind and be more
careful," he said. (09)