Aceh Hopes Modern Hospital Will Prevent Medical Tourism Among Indonesians

Jakarta Globe, Nurdin Hasan, January 24, 2010

German Ambassador to Indonesia Norbert Baas visiting a ward for premature babies at Zainoel Abidin Hospital in Banda Aceh. The German-aided hospital cost Rp 418 billion and is meant to provide top-of-the-line care for Acehnese. It was officially inaugurated on Saturday. (JG Photo/Suparta)

Banda Aceh. Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf and German Ambassador to Indonesia Norbert Baas officially inaugurated on Saturday what they said was the “most advanced hospital in the country.”

Zainoel Abidin State Hospital (RSUZA), which is equipped with several state-of-the-art medical instruments, including a CT Scan, MRI machine and radio-diagnostic devices, was rebuilt with aid from the German government. The facility has been receiving patients since last August.

“We say that RSUZA is the most advanced hospital in Indonesia, and its facilities can match prominent hospitals in Penang and Singapore,” Irwandi Yusuf said during the inauguration ceremony

He added that he hoped the new hospital would put an end to the practice of thousands of Acehnese going to Penang, Malaysia, or Singapore each month for medical treatment.

“Including myself, who has to opt for Singapore as a place to have medical treatment because the facilities at the neighboring country’s hospitals are far more advanced than what we have had in Banda Aceh,” the governor said. “But, considering the development, I am certain that the equipment we have now can rival hospitals abroad.”

He also encouraged the staff to prove to the public that the hospital personnel could master the hospital’s advanced machines. “A strong building and advanced equipment are not enough to make RSUZA the best hospital in terms of services for the people of Aceh,” he said.

Baas said that RSUZA was equipped with advanced infrastructure and utilized eco-friendly integrated waste management technology.

“The employees of RSUZA have been intensively trained to ensure the patients and staff can reap maximum benefits from its new facilities and equipment,” he said, adding that the hospital was also designed to weather flooding and earthquakes.

The hospital’s reconstruction was part of German aid for Indonesia, which was augmented after the 2004 tsunami in Aceh that killed 170,000 people, Baas said. During five years of reconstruction in the region, the German government has disbursed a total of 178 million euros ($251.6 million).

The development of the two-story hospital, which sits on 42,946 square meters of land, started in March 2006, funded by a 31 million euro grant from the German government through state-owned bank KfW. The German Agency for Technical Cooperation provided an additional 10.2 million euros worth of technical assistance.

Uwe Ohls, KfW’s first senior vice president of for Asia and Europe, said that the bank would continue to guide the hospital management for the next two years and would facilitate collaborations between the hospital and several universities in Germany for paramedic training courses.

The director of the hospital, Taufik Mahdi, said the facility had 350 beds, and would add 150 more this year. Since the hospital opened, an average of 600 people a day have come to receive medical treatment.