IPAS Indonesia Foundation through the TAKENUSA project (Tekad Bersama untuk Kesehatan Perempuan Nusa Tenggara) encourages the expansion of access to reproductive health, especially Post Abortion Care (PAC) and quality family planning (KB). The TAKENUSA project has been implemented since 2023 in East Nusa Tenggara Province. One of them is in East Flores Regency.
A total of providers consisting of 8 obstetricians and gynecologists, 9 general practitioners, and 123 midwives have undergone PAC and family planning training in 2023-2024. The training is expected to improve these two services in the TAKENUSA project area.
After the training, service providers deliver both services. One of the places is at the puskemas. In East Flores District, there are three health centers, namely, Waiwerang, Ile Bura, and Ritaebang. To improve the quality of services at the puskesmas, IPAS Indonesia Foundation in collaboration with YPPS East Flores invites the community to jointly encourage improvements in service quality. The effort is packaged in a Feedback Mechanism (MUB).
The MUB process in East Flores was conducted from March to May 2025 and involved 106 people, consisting of 95 women and 11 men. The process began with preparation, focus group discussions from community groups and health service providers, collaborative meetings to discuss feedback results, development of action plans to improve service quality, and monitoring plans.
MUB facilitator and Head of the Public Health Division of the East Flores Health Office, Kamaria Lamanele, said that a topic that often arises in discussions is access to health facilities, such as damaged roads. “The second is the very long service queue. Then follow-up examinations to obgyn doctors because transportation is expensive,” Kamaria said.
He added that MUB is not for judging, but rather a discussion to gather information to improve and strengthen services. “So it is good because MUB starts from the service recipient, then we convey recommendations to the service provider. Then there is an opportunity to clarify the recommendations between the recipient and the service provider,” he added.
The head of the Waiwerang Health Center, Martinus Sanga Samon, A.Md.Kep said that providing direct feedback from the community regarding health services was the first time he had encountered it. Usually the health center uses an information box to accommodate input from the community.
“But thank you too [for this MUB]. There are many positive things that we get. And what is lacking from the puskesmas in the future we will or can change, namely the delay in service and road access to the puskesmas,” he said.
He is also open to continuing to improve services such as encouraging health workers to be more friendly and quick in providing services.
In the MUB, he admitted that not only improvements were delivered. But there is also appreciation from the community regarding the services that have been accessed.
The same thing was also conveyed by the Head of the Ile Bura Health Center, Yohanes Noda Kwuta, A.Md.Kep. He really appreciated the community who had conveyed honestly about the services provided by the health center. “We are very happy with this because we cannot judge ourselves but it is better from the community who judge so that what is still lacking can be improved,” he said.
He is also committed to continuously improving services. “When our services are still not felt or not good to the community. We are ready to jointly follow up in the future to make it better, and if it is already good, maybe we can improve it again so that it becomes even better,” he concluded.
