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."