UNAIR NEWS – The Health Bill (RUU) has finally been passed into a Health Law on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. Several issues came to the surface, from the legal protection of health workers, not involving community participation, the elimination of mandatory spending by the government, to the issue of criminalization of health workers.
New policy breakthrough
UNAIR Faculty of Law and Health Law expert, Riza Alifianto Kurniawan SH MTCP, commented on the issues. Riza explained that the Health Law provided policy changes in managing and granting Indonesian citizens the right to health.
“This bill opens up the opportunity to improve health status in Indonesia,” said Riza to UNAIR NEWS on Monday, July 17, 2023.
Riza also commented on the issue of legal protection for health workers. He says the legal protection for medical personnel and health workers is not changed. The state guarantees that medical personnel and health workers are protected by law in their professional duties.
“In the absence of public participation, the draft bill has already been distributed to professional organizations and academics. There have been suggestions and responses from representatives of professional organizations and academics for improving the draft bill,” said Riza.
Health workers’ criminalization issue
As a criminal law expert, Riza also commented on the criminalization of health workers’ issues. The new Health Law regulates health workers who can be criminalized if they make mistakes or negligence. According to him, this arrangement is not a form of criminalization for health workers.
“Negligent or reckless acts that result in injury or death are prohibited by law. So that everyone who is careless and negligent deserves to be punished, including health workers,” explained the lecturer in Crimes Against Life and Property course.
Riza added that medical disputes between doctors and patients, according to the Law on Health Personnel, must be resolved through mediation before litigation. He emphasized that this was enough to show no special criminalization for doctors or health workers.
In his closing statement regarding the issue of mandatory spending by the government, Riza said that the state must have a strong commitment to guarantee health financing for the Indonesian people in the future.
“This strong commitment with good implementation aims to prevent the decline of Indonesian community health status,” he said. (*)
Author: Dewi Yugi Arti
Editor: Feri Fenoria
