Gov’t strengthen ministerial collaboration to boost health tourism

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Tourism Ministry and Health Ministry have forged a collaboration to improve the quality of health tourism and the services it provides.Tourism Minister Widiyanti Putri Wardhana confirmed here on Friday that the partnership reflects the government’s commitment to establishing an integrated health tourism experience with high quality capable of competing globally.Wardhana said that the collaboration, which is formalized through a memorandum of understanding inked by both parties, covers some aspects, such as policy formulation and health tourism programs.Moreover, the collaboration includes efforts to improve human resources, data exchange and utilization, investment and marketing of healthcare services, as well as forming a dedicated work unit for health tourism.She noted that each year, approximately two million Indonesians seek medical treatment abroad, despite Indonesia’s capacity to provide world-class health services.She also said that the value of Indonesia’s wellness sector reached up to 56.4 billion USD, with recorded growth of 6.65 percent from 2019-2023.”The ever-improving wellness sector’s (potential) needs to be tapped into, to pursue the development of wellness and health tourism,” she remarked.The minister opined that Indonesia offers plenty of advantages for health tourism, such as herbal practices, mind and body recovery techniques, and beautiful natural landscapes.Hence, her administration reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening health tourism by highlighting hospitals’ top services, promoting medical facilities, and facilitating partnerships between hospitals, the tourism industry, and travel agents.The ministry has formulated a roadmap for the development and formed a work unit, to ensure that the collaborative efforts for the development progress effectively.The two ministries aim to improve health tourism quality by setting standards, developing priority offerings, and hosting industry and investment forums to strengthen the ecosystem.According to Wardhana, it is also essential to train the relevant human resources’ competency, such as health workers, wellness staff, and tour guides.The minister said that the Health Ministry’s effort to improve medical facilities and services supports the initiative to strengthen Indonesia’s national tourism index.”I hope Indonesia can go up from rank 22 to 20, even go as top 10 globally,” she remarked.