The 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will take place at the end of the year 2022 in Bali. The Summit will be the pinnacle of the G20 process and intense work carried out within the Ministerial Meetings, Working Groups, and Engagement Groups throughout the year.
Indonesia’s (health) priorities
To strengthen the global health architecture, the theme “Recover Together, Recover Stronger” carried by Indonesia’s G20 Presidency emphasizes the importance of global cooperation in overcoming current conditions and preparing for a potential future pandemic.
Global cooperation is significant given the fact that every nation has considerably varied capacities in addressing health threats. On February 17th the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ (FMCBG) met for the first High-Level Seminar on Strengthening Global Health Architecture.
In her opening speech, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said: “The G20 must be at the forefront of the process of strengthening global health architecture. It takes a strong commitment and more substantial investment than ever to tackle the current pandemic and mitigate its effects with the mobilization of health resources.” One of the issues currently encountered in the global health architecture is the gap in Prevention, Preparedness, and Response financing.
In the first session, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin highlighted Indonesia’s 3 priorities to achieve a stronger global health architecture, namely: increasing global health resilience; aligning global health protocol standards; and redistribution of global manufacturing centers and research centers to reduce future health vulnerabilities. In his closing remark, the Governor of Bank Indonesia Perry Warjiyo said that strengthening the global health system with a sustainable financing mechanism is a crucial part of the exit strategy towards Recover Together and Recover Stronger.
Increased health care spendings
Indonesia’s healthcare budget for 2022 increased by 22.9% compared to 2019. For medical devices (import) the projection in 2030 will spend approximately 10,5 billion USD, which means approximately 25% of the total spending.
On January 26-29th 2022, the Hospital Expo (the biggest event for a medical device) ran their first face to face event for the first time after covid with more than 14k visitors. ARSSI (Association of Private Hospitals Indonesia) projected that the number of hospitals will grow by 3-5% this year, from the current figure at 2925 hospitals, 65% of which are private. ARSSI requested the government to provide incentives to develop hospitals in the eastern part of the country; most hospitals in this region belong to the national and local governments.
Reduced quarantine
On other hand, per March 1, Indonesia reduces the quarantine from five days to three days. In April 2022, the government will consider lifting all quarantine requirements for inbound travellers, as this regulation attracts more tourists and businesses.
