Government to Build 48 New Community Health Centers: Here's the Distribution

The government plans to build 48 new community health centers (puskesmas) in 48 sub-districts during the 2024-2028 period.

The Director General of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, Maria Endang Sumiwi, stated that this is being done to improve the capacity and capability of primary healthcare services.

"This is necessary because we must reach all Indonesian citizens, totaling 280 million people, across a vast territory," said Maria at the 2024 National Health Working Meeting on Thursday (25/4/2024).

The majority of these new puskesmas will be built in the Pegunungan Papua region, specifically in 34 of its sub-districts.

Further construction of new puskesmas will include 5 sub-districts in Southwest Papua, 5 in Central Papua, 3 in West Papua, and 1 in North Kalimantan.

According to Maria, improvements to primary healthcare services must also be pursued through the fulfillment of standards for puskesmas, puskesmas pembantu (pustu - sub-health centers), posyandu (integrated community health posts), home visits, and public health laboratories.

These standards encompass infrastructure, medical equipment (including new technologies), and governance.

"Meeting the medical equipment standards alone will leverage the infrastructure standards and governance. Because when medical equipment is provided, it's impossible not to have a building," said Maria.