To improve the quality of health care service provided by the Community Health Center, Center for Regional Information and Studies (PATTIRO) together with PATTIRO Surakarta and Surakarta Health Department launch an SMS Gateway based application named SMS PANDAN (Health Complaint Service Center).

This SMS-based application is created to ease the people of Surakarta in delivering their aspirations or complaints regarding the health care service they get from the community health center. The complaint data obtained can also be used to help Surakarta Health Department to identify people’s needs and community health center service deficiencies. Surakarta Health Department will then make SMS PANDAN as part of health care management and data collection in Surakarta.

“With the existence of this SMS Gateway based application, it will be easier for people to deliver their complaints to the Government of Surakarta once they get unsatisfactory health care service”, said First Assistant Regional Secretary of Surakarta Said Romdhoni during the SMS PANDAN launching, in Pucangsawit Community Health Center, Solo, Central Java, on Friday (2/10/2015).

Said added, the government of Surakarta needs this kind of complaint service. “This service is one of many other means the government can use to identify what people’s needs. Therefore, the solution we choose to addresses the problem can be in accordance with what people really need”, explain Said.

Said hopes the people of Surakarta can participate actively in monitoring the community health center in providing health service to the people so that the implementation of this complaint service can run well.

On the same occasion, the staff of PATTIRO Surakarta Advocacy Division Dyah Ayu Wecha explained that the complaint messages received will be managed by Surakarta Health Department. “They are also responsible for finding the solution of the problems”, she said.

Diah also stated that the enforcement of the solutions and answers to the complaints received by Surakarta Health Department through SMS PANDAN will be monitored and overseen by the Health Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF) which consists of various elements such as civil societies, academics, Surakarta Government, local parliament members, inspectorates, and other related local working units (SKPD).

The MFS will later utilize the data generated from various complaints addressed to Surakarta Health Department as a recommendation to the government to improve Surakarta health care service.

Director of PATTIRO Surakarta Andwi Joko Mulyanto also explained that by optimizing the use of this platform, in the future, Surakarta Government will be able to provide health care services the people need. “The improvement of health care service will be in accordance with the people’s will because the recommendations the MSF plans to give to the government are generated from their identification of public complaints through SMS PANDAN”, Andwi asserted.

SMS PANDAN is one of other PATTIRO and PATTIRO Surakarta contributions to the improvement of health care service in Surakarta. “I hope, by utilizing this application, people can get a better health care service from the community health center”, Andwi added.