Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Re: INDONESIA - BF 11/24+
Re: INDONESIA - BF 11/24+
Don't rely on medicine, Kalla says Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Lumajang
Vice President Jusuf Kalla urged people Sunday not to rely on medicines and hospitals to keep them healthy because good "genetics" and environmental factors were more important.
Speaking at the launch of the pilot Desa Siaga health program in Lumajang, East Java, Kalla claimed genetics, a clean environment and healthy living were the key to a longer life.
"After these three requirements are met, then there will be health services. The first three requirements are actually the cheapest to achieve. The most expensive is (providing) health services," he said.
Kalla did not detail how people could improve their genes.
The program has been launched to develop awareness about health threats in villages.
It would also educate people about "graded" health services, ranging from integrated health posts, to community health centers and hospitals.
"A health movement does not mean medicines because the medicines should be the last alternative," Kalla said.
Environmental factors, healthy habits and nutrition were more important, Kalla said.
Kalla said he had ordered all governors, regents and mayors to prioritize these environmental factors to improve health in the regions.
A large number of the nation's poor cannot afford medical treatment and the government has been criticized for not doing enough to prioritize health in the country.
"We do need good-quality hospitals. However regents or mayors who are successful will be those who have good hospitals but which are not full of patients. The many patients getting medical treatment at hospitals means a failure of the regents or mayors," Kalla said.
Health achievements could not be measured by the availability of good hospitals, he said. "However, good hospitals are necessary, because without them, the public cannot get good services," he added.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari, who accompanied Kalla, said Lumajang had been chosen to launch the program because it had been the only region to successfully prepare it in all of its 110 villages.
The program would eventually reach all areas in the country, Siti said, with a target of 30,000 new villages a year. It is targeted for completion in 2009.
Siti said the ministry had also established emergency service centers in nine provinces, including North Sumatra, South Kalimantan and North Sulawesi.
The centers would help the country anticipate natural disasters, she said.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20061218.G01&irec=0
Re: INDONESIA - BF 11/24+
Don't rely on medicine, Kalla says Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Lumajang
Vice President Jusuf Kalla urged people Sunday not to rely on medicines and hospitals to keep them healthy because good "genetics" and environmental factors were more important.
Speaking at the launch of the pilot Desa Siaga health program in Lumajang, East Java, Kalla claimed genetics, a clean environment and healthy living were the key to a longer life.
"After these three requirements are met, then there will be health services. The first three requirements are actually the cheapest to achieve. The most expensive is (providing) health services," he said.
Kalla did not detail how people could improve their genes.
The program has been launched to develop awareness about health threats in villages.
It would also educate people about "graded" health services, ranging from integrated health posts, to community health centers and hospitals.
"A health movement does not mean medicines because the medicines should be the last alternative," Kalla said.
Environmental factors, healthy habits and nutrition were more important, Kalla said.
Kalla said he had ordered all governors, regents and mayors to prioritize these environmental factors to improve health in the regions.
A large number of the nation's poor cannot afford medical treatment and the government has been criticized for not doing enough to prioritize health in the country.
"We do need good-quality hospitals. However regents or mayors who are successful will be those who have good hospitals but which are not full of patients. The many patients getting medical treatment at hospitals means a failure of the regents or mayors," Kalla said.
Health achievements could not be measured by the availability of good hospitals, he said. "However, good hospitals are necessary, because without them, the public cannot get good services," he added.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari, who accompanied Kalla, said Lumajang had been chosen to launch the program because it had been the only region to successfully prepare it in all of its 110 villages.
The program would eventually reach all areas in the country, Siti said, with a target of 30,000 new villages a year. It is targeted for completion in 2009.
Siti said the ministry had also established emergency service centers in nine provinces, including North Sumatra, South Kalimantan and North Sulawesi.
The centers would help the country anticipate natural disasters, she said.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20061218.G01&irec=0