Satrah, 87, is assisted by midwife Dayu Ummu Kholisyah, 44, who is visiting her house in Kertosari, Banyuwangi, on Monday (15/1). Since 2014, community health center (Puskesmas) Kertosari has had a Fast Action Response movement, which is a proactive effort for residents with high health risks.
Satrah, 87, tried hard to reach the door to welcome her visitor. She searched for the key, but could not to find it. Satrah is disabled and has been blind for 30 years.
It was lucky that her visitor knew where the key was kept. She reached for the key and opened the door. Satrah’s face brightened on hearing the greeting from Dayu Ummu Kholisyah, 44.
Dayu is a midwife from the Kertosari community health center (puskesmas) in Banyuwangi, East Java, about a kilometer from Satrah’s house. That Monday (15/1) was not their first meeting. In the past year, Dayu has regularly visited Satrah.
On each visit, Dayu checks Satrah’s blood pressure and pulse. Dayu also brings food and drink for Satrah, who lives alone.
“It has been a long time since Ibu Satrah has been unable to see because of glaucoma. On every health check, her blood pressure has been low and her nutrition poor. She often has a fever, possibly from lack of fluids,” Dayu said.
Dayu takes care of Satrah as though caring for her own mother. “Ibungersakke nopo? Badhe dimasak- ke nopo? Kacang ijo nopo bubur [What would you like? What do you want me to cook for you? Green bean or rice porridge?],” Dayu asked in the local language.
In a cracked voice, Satrah replied, “Anything, opo wae aku doyan [I will eat whatever you cook].”
Dayu’s visits are part of Kertosari Puskesmas’s program called Gertac, or quick response action. “This innovation is our effort to actively provide health services to poor people with high [health] risk. Through Gertac, residents who cannot access health services will still receive care,” said Puskesmas Kertosari head Wahyu Primawati.
In the program, health workers, the community and subdistrict heads are part of a WhatsApp chat group. Through the chat group, its members can report to healthcare workers if they hear of any resident who has taken ill and cannot get to the puskesmas. Wahyu guarantees that a health worker will visit the house of the ill person within an hour. If the person needed further medical treatment, the health worker will recommend a visit to the clinic or a hospital.
Online app
To help puskesmas patients get a queue number easily, the Surabaya administration launched its online app, eHealth, in 2015. Patients can accessed the app on a smartphone, register and get queue number without physically going to a puskesmas. Patients can select the date of their visit up to one month before.
“Now, they do not have to queue. On eHealth, the queue number already notes the estimated time of the patient’s visit,” Surabaya Health Office head Febria Rachmanita said on Friday (12/1).
The app can be used to obtain a queue number for 63 puskesmas, as well as Dr Soewandhie Regional Hospital and the Bhakti Dharma Husada Regional Hospital. Residents of Surabaya and outside the city can use the app. The app is available in Indonesian, Javanese and Madurese to accommodate the people of Surabaya.
Kenjeran Puskesmas head Esti Sriwuri said about 60 percent of patients take a queue number through eHealth. Using the app reduced waiting times and sped up the registration process. “Our staffers can quickly ready the patient’s medical record if they know the patient’s identity in advance,” she said.
Sudirman, 48, a patient at Puskesmas Kenjeran, said the app was useful. “If there are only a few patients, it takes only 30 minutes from arrival until [getting] the medical check. People used to wait two hours,” he said.
Induk Bandarharjo Puskesmas in Semarang has a different story. The rooms at the puskesmas used to be dull and dirty and sometimes had a dead rat. The building was often flooded by seawater. Today, it is clean and comfortable.
Noviantini, 29, a tuberculosis patient, did not get tired of waiting when she got her queue number of 89. After waiting for almost two hours, she was summoned. She was examined for 10 minutes. “I felt hungry during the wait. But it is no problem, because the waiting room is now comfortable,” said Novi, who has had tuberculosis for six months.
Two years ago, the puskesmas on Jl. Raya Cumi-cumi in Bandarharjo subdistrict, North Sumatra district, was in a poor condition. Located on a riverbank and only a kilometer from the coastline, the area is flooded with seawater almost every day.
Very often, there were dead rats. A bad smell came from the drains in the bathroom, laundry room and the toilet. In addition, the puskesmas had only two examination rooms, so it could only see a limited number of patients.
Since 2015, however, the puskesmas has had facilities like those at a regional hospital. It relocated to a renovated building belonging to a smaller puskesmas, 2 kilometers away. It now has a medical examination room for elderly patients, a maternity room, a dentistry room, an immunization clinic, a laboratory and a pharmacy.
Bandarharjo Puskesmas has now become a popular place for local residents to obtain health services. They are willing to wait at the puskesmas from 6 a.m. to get a number. The patients usually make a neat stack of their identity cards on a table, as registration opens at 7 a.m. Novi did the same before taking her child to school.
Various innovations and better puskesmas services have ensured that middle- and low-income people no longer feel left behind in healthcare. They are now able to obtain good and quality healthcare services.
