Jakarta Globe, Kennial Caroline Laia, Aug 18, 2014
Jakarta. Becoming a politician was never part of Nova Riyanti Yusuf’s intention.
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| Nova Riyanti Yusuf seeks to further make changes in the health-care sector. (Antara Photo/Ujang Zaelani) |
Jakarta. Becoming a politician was never part of Nova Riyanti Yusuf’s intention.
But Nova
decided to enter Indonesia’s political arena in 2009 as a legislative candidate
from the ruling Democratic Party. Her main goal, from the start, had been to
fight for passage of the Mental Health Law, which was implemented in July.
“During [my
electoral] campaign, I saw that nobody cared about mental illnesses. Most
people even thought that the idea was bizarre,” the 36-year-old psychiatrist
said in an interview with the Jakarta Globe last week. “Even though it hasn’t
been entirely understood by everyone, mental health was severely marginalized
back then. It was something unknown.”
Her empathy
for mentally ill patients first came about while she was doing her residency in
psychiatry, and she believes that mental health needs to be taken care of by
the government.
She
continued fighting for the law’s passage since the first draft bill was
submitted to the House of Representatives five years ago.
Efforts by
her and fellow mental health advocates came to fruition when the bill was passed
into law last month. That marked Indonesia’s returning attention on mental
health problems, after the 1966 law on mental health was scrapped and mental
health issues were superseded in 1992 with the passage of a more general health
law that was revised in 2009.
Nova says
she and other Indonesian mental health champions are now working on spreading
information concerning the new law to relevant stakeholders across the country.
They will
also monitor the drafting process of derivative regulations to support their
implementation.
She added
that mental health was a critical issue, citing various medical reports that
said that by 2020, depression would be the world’s number two cause of death,
after coronary heart disease, and would correlate with an increase in suicide
cases.
“To me,
every single life is priceless. So, if someone ends their life because of a
mental disorder, due to lack of attention from the government … it is time for
us to begin preparing Indonesia to tackle this problem,” said the legislator.
Nova, who
earned her medical degree from Trisakti University and a diploma in psychiatry
from the University of Indonesia, says the country needs a health care system
that covers every aspect of health — be it physical, mental, spiritual or
social.
“It takes
more than curative actions to cure health problems,” said the doctor, who is
also known as Noriyu among her friends and colleagues. “Rather, we also need
the psychological approach. Promotive, preventive and rehabilitative measures
are very important to fix health problems in our country.”
AIDS
HIV/AIDS,
according to Nova, is a severe illness that requires a psychological approach
and serious attention from the government.
The 2014
Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (Unaids) Gap Report released last
month put Indonesia among a group of six countries “left behind” in the push to
ensure access to antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Indonesia,
the Central African Republic, Congo, Nigeria, Russia and South Sudan are facing
“the triple threat of high HIV burden, low treatment coverage and no or little
decline in new HIV infections,” the Geneva-based Unaids said.
In
Asia-Pacific, meanwhile, Indonesia is among six countries — along with China,
India, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam — that account for more than 90 percent of
people living with HIV/AIDS in the region.
Nova said
that “handling HIV/AIDS is like an effort in handling the human mind-set,” she
said
“Indonesia
is a ‘confused’ nation. We adhere to religious teachings [regarding homosexual
relations forbidden by official religions in Indonesia], but a recent research
by the Ministry of Health reveals that heterosexual couples who engage in
unprotected sex are the most likely to be infected by HIV/AIDS,” she said
Meanwhile,
research show that drugs are the second cause of HIV/AIDS exposure, the
legislator added.
Nova said
that the ministry needed to allocate more in its budget to tackle HIV/AIDS,
including support of relevant research.
“Additionally,
psychological approach is again the key. Giving people a complete understanding
on HIV/AIDS and engaging religious figures [to support the cause] are in the
must-list.”
Drugs
Nova, who
delivered a keynote speech on “Youth at the Heart of Development” during a UN
Population Fund (UNFPA) event at the UN headquarters in New York in April, says
that another subject of her interest is narcotics.
She said in
order to improve measures to tackle drug problems, the narcotics unit in the
Health Ministry should be upgraded from a sub-directorate level to a higher
division with broader powers.
“Currently
the narcotics division is under the mental health unit. But we must know not
every person who consumes addictive substances suffer from mental disorders,”
she said. “Narcotics is an extremely difficult challenge. The unit in charge
has to closely cooperate with the BNN [National Narcotics Agency] in handling
such matters.”
She added
that drug users should not be criminalized as they were basically victims of
dangerous substances.
“Narcotics
use is not always a legal problem. But it is also a health matter. That’s why
the mental health law stipulates that every mental institution should allocate
10 percent of its beds for drug abuse victims,” Nova said.
Nova for
minister?
Kartono
Mohamad, former chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI), says Nova
can become a good candidate as health minister.
“Anyone is
appropriate to be a health minister as long as they have the capability to hold
the position, including Dr. Nova. She is capable in her field, as a politician
and as a doctor,” Kartono told the Globe on Sunday.
Addressing
Nova’s relatively short experience in the health sector, he said a long medical
background wasn’t necessary for the ministerial post.
“Being a
health minister is not limited to technocratic matters, although that’s also
important,” he said. “He or she has to have good problem-solving management,
integrity, mature thinking and vision.”
Still,
Kartono said that it would be better if Nova trained herself further in the
health sector. “Nova has the capability, but she has to gain more experience before
assuming a ministerial post.”
Potential
candidates eyed as the next health minister include Deputy Health Minister Ali
Ghufron Mukti and Tjandra Yoga Aditama, the director-general for environmental
health.
Prominent
businessman Sandiaga Uno praised Nova’s performance in the House.
“I salute
Dr. Nova’s performance, especially her commitment in fighting for mental health
in Indonesia. She’s young, innovative and smart. I wish her success,” he said.
Despite her
qualifications, she might face resistance in being a part of President-Elect
Joko Widodo’s cabinet due to her being a politician from the Democratic Party,
which supports Prabowo Subianto.
Yet, even
before the presidential election Nova expressed her deviation from the party by
expressing her support for Joko.
For this
reason, she was allegedly relieved of her post as deputy head of the House’s
Commission IX, which oversees health issues, in June.
“That’s
part of the consequences I have to take,” said Nova, adding that it’s up to the
president to decide whoever he trusted as his health minister.
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