Disadvantaged demand free health service<\/p>\n
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
It looked like just another rally on Wednesday, when about 50
\npeople holding cardboard posters stood inside the Ministry of
\nHealth compound in South Jakarta, chanting their demands.<\/p>\n
All other components of a rally were also there; the reporters
\nwho were taking notes and pictures, and the police, who were
\nblocking the protesters from entering the building.<\/p>\n
But this rally was the first time poor Jakartans had marched
\nto demand their right to access to free health services as
\npromised by the government.<\/p>\n
And the protesters are in dire need of health services.<\/p>\n
Umsiah joined the protest although her neck was swollen, the
\npain sometimes so unbearable she could not sleep at night.<\/p>\n
"I take traditional medicine to ease the pain," she said.<\/p>\n
About two weeks ago she was denied health care from Cipto
\nMangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta although she had
\nproduced a letter from her subdistrict that she could not afford
\nto pay for medical treatment and was classified as poor. The
\nletter, she said, was issued by the subdistrict head in Depok,
\nwhere she lives.<\/p>\n
Couple Djuhara and Rumiati brought home their one-year-old
\ndaughter Sintiya, who was being treated for three months at
\nstate-owned Persahabatan Hospital in Rawamangun, East Jakarta,
\nfor inflammation of the brain membrane.<\/p>\n
The parents, who had letters from the North Kelapa Gading
\nsubdistrict chief and the City Social Welfare Agency, were
\nrelieved of hospital expenses. However, they still had to pay for
\nthe medicine not listed on the free medicine list approved in the
\ngovernment's social safety net program.<\/p>\n
They had spent up to Rp 3 million (US$353) up until November,
\nwhen Sintiya's case hit the newspapers.<\/p>\n
"After that, all medicines were provided for free," said
\nRumiati.<\/p>\n
Demanding that the ministry return all the money they should
\nnot have paid, the protesters refused to meet anybody but
\nMinister Achmad Sujudi himself.<\/p>\n
Eventually, the director general of medical services, Eddie
\nNaydial Roesdal, met the protesters to represent the minister
\nwhom he said was not in the office.<\/p>\n
He said that anyone with only a Gakin (poor family) card was
\neligible for free health services. "One card will do," he said,
\nadding that drugs should be provided for free to Gakin holders.<\/p>\n
Eddie and Faiq Bahfen, the ministry's head for legal and
\norganizations division, said the ministry would look into the 45
\ncases recorded by the Legal Aid Institute for Health (LBH
\nKesehatan), who organized the protest.<\/p>\n
Later in the day, the Minister told the press that the Rp 750
\nbillion generated from the reduced fuel subsidy fund this year
\nwas not enough to cover all of the medical services for the poor.<\/p>\n
However, he said, such a health scheme for the poor would have
\na lasting source of funds in the form of a health insurance
\nscheme that would be established by the government.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/disadvantaged-demand-free-health-service-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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