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Indonesian Health Minister Says Help On Way for Remote Areas

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. The Health Ministry is preparing a new law that would regulate benefits for doctors and nurses stationed in remote areas to address the uneven distribution of medical workers in the country.

“There will be some points [in the new law] that we expect will motivate doctors and nurses to be assigned in difficult areas,” Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said here on Saturday.

Endang said she was aware that many medical workers were reluctant to be assigned to some areas because of geographic isolation, financial concerns and cultural differences.

In the 1970s, the government obliged all new doctors to work in a remote area for at least three years before receiving a license to practice. The regulation was revoked in 1990 following protests that it was unfair because it was applied only to doctors and not to nurses or midwives.

Endang said the new law would provide benefits to medical workers stationed in remote areas, including higher salaries and priority in continuing their education to take a specialty.

The Indonesian Doctors Association has said the ideal ratio for doctors to the population is one doctor for every 2,500 people.

According to ministry data from 2007, East Nusa Tenggara had only 12 doctors for every 100,000 people, or one doctor for more than 8,300 people. The ministry hopes this new law will address such inequalities.

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