Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA) - Riau is expected to get a brain hospital in 2025 to prevent its residents from seeking stroke care services in Malaysia, the province's health office head, Sri Sadono Mulyanto, stated.
To this end, the central government has allocated Rp1.6 trillion in the 2024 State Budget for this Riau brain hospital construction project, he remarked in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau Province, on Friday.
This multiyear construction project would commence in October this year in which Rp250 billion (US$1 = around Rp16,055) would be spent in the first stage of construction, Mulyanto noted.
The central government has sent a team of personnel to oversee the construction planning of this Ministry of Health-owned brain hospital, he remarked, adding that the hospital is expected to be operational in 2025.
The bidding process for construction planning had started on May 3, while the stone-laying ceremony to mark the start of construction is scheduled in October 2024, he added.
The land for the hospital construction site has been available on Naga Sakti Street in Tampan Sub-district, Pekanbaru City, he remarked.
The Riau brain hospital would later help reduce the number of residents seeking medical services in Malaysia, he stated.
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Indonesia's Health Ministry noted earlier that stroke is one of the four catastrophic diseases whose treatment burdens the state finances, along with cardiovascular disease, cancer, and kidney disease.
According to the ministry's website, a stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked or ruptures, thereby resulting in a part of the brain not receiving sufficient oxygen supply carried by the blood that can cause cell and tissue death.
Symptoms of the disease include facial or limb paralysis, slurred speech, sudden loss or blurring vision, and loss of consciousness.
As the World Health Organization (WHO) noted on its official website, stroke does not only cause a high risk of death but it also makes survivors potentially suffer a loss of vision and/or speech, paralysis, and confusion.
WHO further noted that annually, some 15 million across the world suffer from stroke. As a result, five million of them die, while another five million suffer permanent disability.
Regarding these stroke-related cases, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin had stated earlier that hospitals in all districts and cities across Indonesia are hopefully able to treat such patients.
The hospitals are also able to conduct non-surgical intervention to treat disruption in blood supply to the brain, he added.
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Translator: Frislidia, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
