VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia can save up to Rp7.7 trillion per year if it manages to reduce the incidence of heart disease, which would ease the financial burden on the state from healthcare costs, a Health Ministry official said.

"There are so many costs which have to be paid by (the social insurance program of state-run Healthcare and Social Security Agency) BPJS Kesehatan because of this catastrophic disease, which can be saved if the risk factors (of the disease) can be minimized," Director of Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases (P2PTM) at the ministry Eva Susanti said on Wednesday.

At a press conference on World Heart Day 2022, she noted that according to a report from the ministry, in the period from 2017–2021, cardiovascular disease ranked first in terms of the burden on BPJS Kesehatan, with the number of patients pegged at around 9.4 million per year.

It was followed by cancer (with an average of 3.5 million patients per year), stroke (2.5 million patients), kidney (2.3 million patients), thalassemia (500 thousand patients), leukemia (355 thousand patients), hepatitis (310 thousand patients), and hemophilia (443 thousand patients).

Based on data from Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) carried out by the Health Ministry, during 2013–2018, the number of cardiovascular patients rose 14.4 percent, bringing healthcare costs to around Rp7.7 trillion per year.

Furthermore, the number of stroke patients increased by 19.4 percent, with the health costs rising to Rp1.9 trillion per year, while the number of cancer patients surged 12.5 percent, with the health costs reaching Rp3.1 trillion.

The director noted that only 3 out of every 10 patients suffering from non-communicable diseases are identified as the rest do not know that they are sick as they experience no symptoms until complications arise.

"Out of three patients, only one person receives treatment regularly," she added.

Several factors create the risk of cardiovascular disease, including hypertension, obesity, smoking, diabetes, and lack of physical activity.

According to the Health Ministry, 41 million people die of non-communicable diseases every year globally, and 17.9 million deaths are caused by cardiovascular disease.

In Indonesia, about 651,481 people die of cardiovascular disease every year.

The commemoration of World Heart Day 2022, which is celebrated every September 29, has raised the global theme of “Use Heart for Every Heart.” In addition, Indonesia has raised its own theme, namely “Healthy Hearts for All.”

At the commemoration, the ministry invited people to make simple, positive changes in their daily activities, such as regularly getting a medical checkup, quitting smoking, regularly undertaking physical exercises, consuming a healthy and balanced diet, getting enough rest, as well as managing stress levels well to have a healthy heart, Susanti added.  (antaranews)

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said that she expects Indonesia to become a full member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) by 2023.

Indonesia has entered the stage of mutual evaluation review (MER) from July 18 to August 4, 2022, as a requirement for full FATF membership. The results of the assessment will be announced in February 2023.

"By becoming a full member, Indonesia can make a greater contribution to the FATF and the world," Indrawati remarked at the B20 Integrity and Compliance Task Force conference, which was followed online from here on Wednesday.

In an MER conducted by the Asia/Pacific Group (APG) in 2018, Indonesia was considered to have adequately met the international standards regarding anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism financing (CTF), she pointed out.

The government also received a response from the APG regarding its recent voluntary tax compliance program, which, the APG concluded, did not meet the policy requirements of the APG Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC).

However, Indonesia has still adhered to the basic principles of the FATF to demonstrate a strong and consistent commitment to upholding FATF standards.

The director general of taxes at the Finance Ministry has also renewed a cooperation agreement with the Attorney General's Office, including customs, to improve the coordination of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing cases, she said.

"Criminals now use so many places to launder money that it is known as organized crime or syndicated crime,"she added.

Several strategic priorities of the FATF are very much in line with Indonesia's priorities, like improving beneficial ownership transparency, increasing the effectiveness of recovering criminal assets, and utilizing digital transformation, she noted.

Digital transformation is also one of the priority agendas of the Indonesian G20 Presidency. In addition, 11 jurisdictions in Asia ratified the Bali Declaration or the Asia Initiative Declaration in July 2022 to push for tax transparency for sustainable domestic resource utilization in the region.

The Asia Initiative is meant to assist in tackling tax evasion, corruption, and illicit financial flows, to ultimately promote the utilization of domestic resources for generating much-needed revenue for the country's development. (Antaranews)

The Religious Affairs Ministry will seek clarity on the meningitis vaccination policy for Umrah pilgrims from Saudi Arabian authorities, following information that the vaccine is no longer mandatory and is only being recommended for pilgrims.

"The ministry, through representatives of the Indonesian government in Saudi Arabia, will immediately coordinate with the competent authorities in Saudi Arabia to obtain clarity on the meningitis vaccine policy," the ministry's director general of Hajj and Umrah, Hilman Latief, said in a written statement  here on Wednesday.

He conveyed the information during a meeting between the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Directorate General of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) of the Ministry of Health, and the Umrah Travel Organizer (PPIU) regarding the meningitis vaccine scarcity.

The vaccine scarcity led to thecancellation of Umrah pilgrims' departure from Juanda Airport, Surabaya, on September 26, 2022.

Latief informed that the number of Umrah pilgrims from Indonesia has continued to increase in the past two months to reach 200 thousand.

However, Umrah implementation has been affected by the scarcity of meningitis vaccines. As per regulations, the Ministry of Health still requires pilgrims to get the meningitis shot.

"Regulations from the Ministry of Health are still the same. Pilgrims and PPIU must comply with the existing regulations regarding meningitis vaccines," Latief emphasized.

Meanwhile, the Hajj consul at the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah, Nasrullah Jasam, said that his party is continuing to coordinate with the Saudi Arabian authorities regarding this matter.

On September 20, Jasam met with a representative from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, Abdul Aziz Wazzan, to discuss the meningitis vaccine policy.


"At that time, he firmly said that the meningitis vaccine is only recommended, not mandatory. He had also confirmed this with other Saudi authorities and received confirmation that it was not mandatory," he said.

Meanwhile, secretary of the Directorate General of P2P of the Health Ministry, Yudhi Pramono, will consult with the director general of P2P, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, to find the best way to anticipate the scarcity of meningitis vaccines.

"We ask PPIU to continue to comply with the provisions and regulations for the implementation of the Umrah pilgrimage, both regulations from the Indonesian government and the Saudi Arabia government," he said. (Antaranews)

Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Minister Basuki Hadimuljono urged researchers at universities across Indonesia to develop several earthquake engineering innovations to support the establishment of earthquake-resistant houses, buildings, and infrastructure.

While delivering his remarks virtually at the 5th International Conference on Earthquake Engineering (ICEEDMS) held by the Faculty of Engineering of Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Yogyakarta Province, on Wednesday, Hadimuljono emphasized that those innovations were needed since Indonesia was a country located in a disaster-prone area.

"This country is prone to earthquakes. The government has prepared earthquake-resistant building and infrastructure designs according to the disaster mitigation concept," he remarked, as quoted from UGM's official site.

The minister noted that the design of earthquake-resistant buildings and infrastructure continues to develop, for which synergy between the government and researchers at various universities is deemed necessary.

"I think that there should be harmony and synergy between earthquake engineering researchers, industry players, and the government to bolster earthquake mitigation attempts, both in Indonesia and in other countries," the minister emphasized.

To mitigate the damage due to earthquakes, so far, the PUPR Ministry has implemented earthquake-resistant design in various housing and infrastructure development projects, he stated.

In fact, he noted that various dam and bridge development projects in Indonesia have applied earthquake-resistant constructions.

"(The earthquake engineering is applied) ranging from the designs of bridges, dams, to offshore infrastructure. We always evaluate seismic performance (of the infrastructure) and implement earthquake-resistant designs for the rehabilitation of building structures," he stated.

On the same occasion, one of the keynote speakers of the event, Professor Jonathan Bray from the University of California, the United States, said that the level of damage caused to buildings during an earthquake was influenced by the stiffness of the surface soil material, the condition of hard and soft rocks, as well as the depth of bedrock. (Antaranews)