State Secretary explains flying doctor concept for remote regions

Jakarta (ANTARA) - State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi has explained the flying doctor concept being prepared by the government to accelerate access to healthcare services for people in remote areas who struggle to reach health facilities.

“Why did the idea of flying doctors emerge? The term ‘flying’ came about because on several occasions we travelled around all regions of Indonesia, and indeed our country is very vast, and the reach of facilities is not yet evenly distributed,” Prasetyo said at Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Saturday.

The flying doctor concept was previously presented by President Prabowo Subianto in his speech delivering the government’s introduction and statement on the 2027 State Budget Bill and its Financial Note at the MPR/DPR building in Jakarta on Friday (14/8).

According to him, the government is currently accelerating improvements to health facilities, including community health centres (puskesmas) and regional general hospitals (RSUD), to shorten the distance and time for people to obtain healthcare services.

Prasetyo explained that the service will later be used to handle certain health conditions in remote areas. However, the concept does not mean that every village or sub-district must have air transport.

“It is not the case that every village or sub-district will then have air transport; it is not always like that,” he said.

The service will later use vehicles equipped with equipment to provide dental health services directly to the public.

According to Prasetyo, the mobile dental service is expected to help accelerate the handling of health problems, particularly the public’s dental health.

He said the development of mobile dental vehicles is still in progress. The government is also continuing to evaluate its development because the equipment needed for dental health services differs from general medical equipment.