Health Care

Dukun, or traditional healers, also play an important role in Indonesian health care.

Indonesia is an archipelago made up of 17,508 islands, though many people believe that over 18,000 actually exist. This unique geography makes the administration of health care a challenge.

Health care in Indonesia operates on a three-tier system. The first tier, and the tier with the most contact with people, consists of the large community hospitals. The large hospitals are located in major cities on the larger islands. These are fully staffed by physicians and nurses, and offer outpatient, maternity, and other general services. The next tier is local clinics, which are located in larger towns in more rural areas. They are usually staffed by several nurses, and offer much of the same care. A traveling physician visits about once a month. The third tier is on the village level. These are usually not staffed all the time. When there are extra workers at larger clinics they will travel from village to village offering services.

Six thousand of Indonesia’s islands are occupied. Therefore, it is very difficult to have a health care system that can function on the local level, which is why there are so many traveling physicians. Furthermore, the tsunami in December of 2004 destroyed many of the area’s rural clinics.

Dukun, or traditional healers, also play an important role in Indonesian health care. In the most rural areas where there is no access to western medicine the dukun will administer everyday medical care. They are still the first kind of medical treatment many people receive. In fact, dukun usually preside over the majority of childbirths.