Abstract

Issues and problems related to the needs for quantity and quality in health care have been presented. The need for quantity has been quite successfully addressed in the last 20 years. Better quality of health care is very much in the minds of policy makers, providers and the informed public. Quality assessment and assurance as a programmed and on-going process in individual hospitals is systematically promoted and developed. An accreditation system for hospitals is planned for the future. This paper has not been able to contribute anything of value to the current practice of quality assurance. The industrialized world has passed the stages Indonesia is now going through. To some Australian colleagues, this presentation perhaps has revealed that one of their closest neighbours is struggling hard to improve the quality of life of its people, despite the tremendous problems and constraints with which it is confronted. Australia has always provided a helping hand in this struggle.

PIP:

Indonesia is a developing country, a vast archipelago of 13,600 islands with a population of 175 million making it the fifth largest nation in the world. The country is rich in natural resources and is developing an industrial base. This growth is focusing the nation's attention on the need for better delivery of quality health care services. Most of the population lives in rural areas making the delivery of health care services difficult. A system of community health centers is being developed in response to the needs of the rural community. Staffed by a doctor, a dentist, a midwife, a nurse and other support staff, these centers provide programs of family planning, health education, mother and child health care, immunization, dental care and nutritional improvement. At the village level health care is provided at integrated service posts staffed by volunteers trained to treat common health problems with simple means such as treating diarrhea with oral rehydration. These methods to increase the quantity of care have improved the infant mortality rate and decreased the maternal mortality rate. Even though the quantity of health care still needs to be increased, the policy of the Indonesian government is to work toward increasing both the quantity and quality of health care services in health centers and in hospitals. Standards and quality are fairly consistent in the government run community and village centers. Hospitals standards are not uniform and quality varies. Quality assurance programs to monitor, evaluate and improve service in hospitals need to be developed along with hospital accreditation standards.