Mini Health Technology Assessment of Urban and Rural Health Care
in Indonesia
Angela Franzeska1*, Fabianto Santoso2*, Ferdy Iskandar3*, Yenna Tasia3, Kamajaya Mulyana4
1
Asian Medical Students’ Association – Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia
2
3
4
Asian Medical Students’ Association – Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
Asian Medical Students’ Association – Universitas Katolik Atma Jaya, Jakarta, Indonesia
Asian Medical Students’ Association – Maranatha Christian University, Bandung, Indonesia
*Contributed equally
Background: Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is a program to evaluate the use of technology in
healthcare. HTA proposed by World Health Organization (WHO) will affect the government’s
decision-making in the development of healthcare technology. The use of technology should be assessed
from its cost-effectiveness to its potential ethical problems. HTA Unit – a division who organizes HTA in
government in Indonesia – has emerged in ministry of health in 2003 and focused in drugs and vaccines
problems. However, HTA in Indonesia has not been formally effective until today.
Objectives: To evaluate the usage, supply, and demand of the health technology and the spread of health
technology in urban and rural areas.
Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study using questionnaire to gather quantitative and qualitative
data. The respondents of this study are medical doctors in Indonesia, and the selection of the
respondents is done consecutively. We divide respondents’ area into urban and rural areas, and health
practitioners as field executors (general practitioners or GP and specialists) and head of healthcare
facilities.
Results: The total samples are 48 health practitioners and 14 head of healthcare facilities. Statistical
analysis shows that the two settings (urban and rural) are not significantly different (p=0.478), while
descriptive analysis shows that the inadequacy of health technology is higher in rural than that in
urban areas (70% vs 52.63%). The relationship between the field of health practitioners (GP and
specialist) and the adequacy of health technology is not significant. More GP than specialists
complain about the inadequacy of health technology in giving the health service to the patients. About
92.8% head of health facility said that technology is needed to support the health service, while only
35.71% agreed that their health facilities still have inadequate health technology.