The Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) is working with the Turkish government's social security agency Sosyal Guvenlik Kurumu (SGK) to study the health insurance system from various aspects.

BPJS Kesehatan President Director Fachmi Idris inked a memorandum of understanding with SGK President Director Mehmet Selim Bagli to mark the start of cooperation between the two parties at the Jakarta BPJS Kesehatan office on Monday.

The scope of the memorandum of understanding covers cooperation in the areas of collection, risk collection, and strategic purchasing collectability systems through the holding of joint seminars, conferences, expert meetings, information exchange, education and training, and other forms of cooperation agreed by both parties.

"As the fourth most populous country in the world, it is not easy to realize universal health coverage. However, we believe, other countries that have achieved Universal Health Coverage (UHC) also need time to process and make improvements in various aspects to finally succeed in achieving these ideals," Idris expounded in his speech.

He noted that BPJS had established partnerships with various foreign institutions to exchange expertise, ideas, and best practices, in the hopes of contributing to improving the quality of the National Health Insurance-Healthy Indonesia Card (JKN-KIS) services.

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SGK is a health insurance provider in Turkey that was established in 2006.

SGK manages two types of social security based on its nature, with the first pertaining to short-term benefits, such as health insurance, work accident insurance and work-related illnesses, and guaranteed delivery.

The second is related to social security with long-term benefits that encompass old-age benefits, guarantees of early retirement due to unexpected reasons, such as loss of productivity owing to workplace accidents, collateral for survivors of certain disasters, marriage allowances, and funeral benefits.

SGK also shares several similarities with BPJS Kesehatan that provides health insurance for foreigners that have lived in Turkey.

The condition is that foreigners must stay a year in Turkey and are under 65 years of age. The benefits on offer encompass guarantees of health services at government hospitals and discounts for redemption of drugs.

"Although we have different conditions and challenges, we believe that cooperation with SGK can pave the way to develop a social security system for each country," Idris noted.

Before Turkey, BPJS Kesehatan had also established partnership with several other international institutions related to social health insurance, including South Korea's National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) South Korea, and the International Social Security Association (ISSA).