Batam's Public Health Centers Operate Round The Lock

BATAM, June 7 (Antara) - All Public Health Centers (Puskesmas) in Batam, Riau Islands, are currently offering round-the-clock services to improve health facilities offered to the public. "All Puskesmas operate 24 hours," Batam Health Office Head Didi Kusmaryadi stated in Batam on Tuesday. All Puskesmas in the main and secondary islands are already open for the entire day, despite some of them not always having doctors on duty. In case there are no doctors on duty, he ensured that a replacement is called in if necessary. "There are 'on-call' and 'in-house' doctors. The 'in-house' ones are at Balong Permai, Sekupang, Tanjungsengkuang and Galang," he noted. Several places do not have in-house doctors. He noted that the unavailability of doctors was due to their limited number. "Doctors are working since morning, and if forced to work at night, it would not be good," he said. The government is planning to increase the number of doctors to be posted in those centers to improve services. He believed that the current situation did not require the presence of doctors round-the-clock, as the number of patients was less. "The patients are not many," he revealed. Until tonight, Batam has 17 Puskesmas in the main and secondary islands. Two other places are still being built and will become operational soon. Meanwhile, the municipal government has planned to create an online Puskesmas application to improve services offered to the people. "Next, we want to start an online service where all centers are offered under one application," the office head noted. The application is being created on the similar lines of "go-jek" where people can register and get information on the services we offer, he stated. People can also report anything related to health through that application, and it would be directly passed on to the government.