West Java health spending minute

West Java health spending minute

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

West Java administration spends very little on its residents'
health, well below the standard set by the World Health
Organization (WHO), a health official said in Bandung on Monday.

Adnan Mahmoed, the head of West Java's Ministry of Health
office, said that each resident of the province was allocated
health services worth only Rp 20,000 per year.

"According to WHO, the minimum level of spending on health for
developing countries is (equivalent to) Rp 41,000 per capita per
year."

"We have to work hard to increase provincial revenues to
improve the health services for residents," he said at a seminar
on neonatal health here on Sunday night, organized by the Bandung
Journalists' Discussion Forum.

"Of the 26 mayoralties and regencies, Bogor spends the lowest
on its citizens' health, only Rp 11,000 per capita per year,"
Adnan said. "Cirebon is the highest with Rp 37,000 per person per
annum."

Health spending was related to the amount of funding the
health office had, Adnan said.

"To provide health services to more than 32 million West Java
residents, the provincial health office had only Rp 240 billion
this year. Seventy percent of the money was from the central
government and the rest was from the provincial budget and
foreign loans," he said.

"The 240 billion also has to pay for office salaries. The
situation is worsened by the fact that West Java residents'
capacity to afford health services (going to the community health
centers and to the doctors) is also very poor."

According to a 1999 national social and economic survey, only
10 percent of West Java's population went to doctors or community
health centers when ill.

"The others sought traditional treatment or bought medicines
from drug stalls or stores (without doctors' prescriptions)," he
said.

West Java Legislative Council deputy speaker Kurdi Moekri
admitted that both the executive and legislature had paid poor
attention to health.

"The health sector has usually been handled by the central
government," he said.

Adnan agreed, saying that policies on health had been top-
down.

"Provinces, mayoralties and regencies have various sources of
funding for their own health programs without depending on the
central government."