Cancer care in Bali

Abstract

The incidence of cancer in Bali remains high, mainly due to poverty, the lack of screening, and the high prevalence of smoking. Although a new universal health insurance scheme was set up by the Indonesian government last year, it is too soon to measure its full eff ect. Meanwhile, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) remain crucial in delivering basic health care to the public, especially those in remote areas of the island. However, many health NGOs have reported little reduction in the need for their services since the insurance scheme was introduced and some managers in the NGO sector are wary of its eff ectiveness, warning that more doctors will need to be trained and extra hospitals and clinics built for it to work comprehensively across all social sectors. Others, however, say that more time is needed to evaluate the scheme. The John Fawcett Foundation is one NGO that continues to deliver free health care in the form of eye screening and treatment. Based in Sanur in Bali, the John Fawcett Foundation is at the front line of health care in Bali as their health workers often treat people who rarely seek medical help, operating buses that travel out to remote regions of the island to deliver eye treatment to those individuals in