Prehospital care in Indonesia

Area of Science:

• Emergency medicine
• Public health systems
• Disaster preparedness

Background:

• Indonesia, a large, diverse, developing nation, historically lacked a public ambulance service and prehospital care system.
• The country frequently faces natural disasters, conflicts, and daily emergencies, necessitating robust emergency medical services.
• Existing hospitals lack integrated patient retrieval systems, with the national emergency ambulance service (118) limited to five major cities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline the current state of prehospital care in Indonesia.
• To identify challenges and recent developments in establishing emergency medical services.
• To propose a future direction for an integrated national prehospital care system.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing emergency medical infrastructure in Indonesia.
• Analysis of challenges including cultural acceptance, geography, traffic, and resource limitations.
• Identification of recent advancements such as disaster response teams and paramedic training initiatives.

Main Results:

• Indonesia's emergency ambulance service (118) is nascent, primarily city-based, and faces significant operational hurdles.
• Key challenges include cultural barriers, vast geographical distribution, traffic congestion, insufficient ambulance numbers, and limited access to quality training.
• Encouraging developments include the establishment of a disaster response brigade, improved ambulance availability, and enhanced paramedic training programs.

Conclusions:

• Despite substantial challenges, recent developments indicate progress in Indonesia's prehospital care.
• An integrated, national, and regionalized hospital and prehospital system is a feasible long-term objective.
• International collaboration for training resources can significantly aid in achieving a comprehensive emergency medical system.