Pay up first policy puts life at risk<\/p>\n
It is not only the abject poor who are vulnerable in dealing with
\nthe Indonesian health service. With only an estimated 40 million
\npeople capable of paying for their insurance from their own
\npockets or from insurance policies, most people have difficulties
\nin settling hospitals payments.<\/p>\n
And anyone can find themselves in an emergency room without
\ntheir wallet.<\/p>\n
This can be a potentially dangerous situation. With concerns
\nover mounting budget deficits and bad debts, hospitals are
\nincreasingly wary of admitting patients who may not be able to
\npay. This cautious approach has been known to extend to the
\nemergency room, a practice against Health Minister Decree
\n159b\/1988 about hospital and Minister of Health regulation
\n920\/1986 about private hospital.<\/p>\n
Requiring deposits in emergency cases is a criminal offense
\nbut patients and families faced with demands for money are
\nusually not in a position to argue.<\/p>\n
In a notorious case which caused a major scandal over a decade
\nago, a senior Ministry of Health official died at a Central
\nJakarta hospital which had delayed giving him emergency treatment
\nbecause he did not have a Rp 1 million deposit.<\/p>\n
Almost everyone has heard similar tales of people being forced
\nto wait unnecessarily in accident and emergency departments.<\/p>\n
David Santoso, a 26-year-old employee at a five-star hotel in
\nSouth Jakarta recently collapsed with a fever in the middle of
\nthe night and was taken to a nearby hospital by his friends.<\/p>\n
"Before they would treat me, the hospital staff demanded a
\ndeposit of Rp 2 million but I did not have it and neither did my
\nfriends. Then they phoned the duty manager at the hotel where I
\nwork to check I was earning a salary. After about 30 minutes I
\nwas taken in for treatment," said David.<\/p>\n
While emergency cases can be fatal and have resulted in
\nhospitals being sued by legal aid associations there appears to
\nbe no sanctions enforced bar a mild reprimand. Apart from risking
\nlives this illegal practice results in stress and hardship for
\nfamilies and friends who desperately try to meet the demands of
\nhospitals to pay in advance.<\/p>\n
"My neighbors' three-year-old son stepped into a pail of
\nboiling water. I immediately rushed with him and his mother to
\nthe hospital across the road from where we live. At the accident
\nand emergency department they said that we had to pay a deposit
\nof Rp 300,000," said Noviar, a 24-year-old room boy at a serviced
\napartment complex in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
"It was a big amount for us as middle class people. We
\ncouldn't afford it and we worried about the condition of the
\nchild while we discussed with the staff. I finally said, 'Of
\ncourse we will pay after, just take him in and get him treatment
\nor he will die!' As a temporary guarantee I told them we owned
\nour own brick house across the road."<\/p>\n
Noviar finally convinced the staff to treat the boy while he
\nwent to call on his neighbors to collect money for the deposit.
\nHe succeeded in raising Rp 275,000 from 20 neighbors during
\nalmost two hours running to and fro.<\/p>\n
"At the time I did not know that there was a regulation
\nagainst asking for money for an emergency. But even if I did they
\nwere still insisting on it. What could I do?"<\/p>\n
Dr. Firman from the University of Indonesia's School of
\nMedicine suggested that if more people use legal aid to take
\ncases it could help to enforce the law. He called for
\ncondemnation from the medical profession and for action from the
\ncity medical authorities and the police.<\/p>\n
"The doctors association cannot defend people doing this kind
\nof thing," he said.<\/p>\n
Farid Anfasa Moeloek, former health minister and now chairman
\nof the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI), suggested that
\npeople could phone the police but he recognized that enforcement
\nof the laws was weak. He added that although it may not help at
\nthe time of an emergency, IDI could put moral pressure on the
\nhospitals concerned through its ethics committee.<\/p>\n
-- David Kennedy and Claudia Octora<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pay-up-first-policy-puts-life-at-risk-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }