Poor people need more access to health services<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Group of Women Against Violence (Gabungan
\nPerempuan Anti Kekerasan) demanded yesterday that information on
\nlow cost, quality health services be more accessible to the poor.<\/p>\n
They also urged yesterday that the government and hospitals be
\nmore sensitive to people's shame of admitting to be poor and the
\nfear of poor quality service if they do.<\/p>\n
\"The inadequate information for consumers, especially about
\nhealth services provided by hospitals to the poor, lead to them
\nbecoming health care consumers without any bargaining power,\"
\nread the group's statement. The group is comprised of 17 non-
\ngovernmental organizations.<\/p>\n
Nine representatives of the group placed posters around the
\nmain entrance of the state-owned Cipto Mangunkusumo General
\nHospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta, before meeting with the
\nhospital management yesterday.<\/p>\n
Patients going in and out of the entrance crowded around the
\nposters, including the largest which cited a clause from the 1992
\nHealth Law: \"Each citizen has an equal right to acquire the
\nhighest standard of health.\"<\/p>\n
The group's protest was triggered by the case of a Tanjung
\nPriok resident who came to the hospital to pick up her baby on
\nSept. 19, only to find the baby had died on Feb. 24.<\/p>\n
The baby had been taken by his father, a newspaper vendor, to
\nRSCM shortly after a midwife delivered it on Feb. 10. The midwife
\nsaid the baby had no rectum.<\/p>\n
The mother, Suni, told reporters she came after receiving a
\nnotice from the hospital on Aug. 8 that they owed Rp 317,500
\n(US$139.56).<\/p>\n
Suni said they didn't get notification of their child's death.
\nThe management, who insisted they could not locate her address to
\nconvey the news, could not explain why she received the bill but
\nnot the death notification.<\/p>\n
Suni's husband was quoted by the Kompas daily as saying that
\nsince taking the baby to RSCM in February, they were scared to
\nvisit their baby because he had been informed treatment cost Rp
\n50,000 a day.<\/p>\n
Suni then got an official note stating he was poor. The note
\nis required to obtain free or low cost health services.<\/p>\n
The hospital's Deputy Director for Medical Services,
\nHermansyur Kartowisastro, said the management regrets that the
\nfamily did not inquire about free or low cost services.<\/p>\n
\"People can ask the doctors, the nurses, the administrative
\nstaff... but somebody has got to ask,\" said Hermansyur.<\/p>\n
He also explained that the management and staff had gone
\nthrough all mandatory procedures in the absence of a patient's
\nfamily.<\/p>\n
\"If we put up signs on the procedures (to gain low cost or
\nfree services) people would be more ashamed to ask,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Tati Krisnawaty of the Solidaritas Perempuan Association,
\nurged that hospitals must be more active in educating the poor
\nabout access to low-cost or free services.<\/p>\n
\"The poor may either be ashamed to admit being poor, or they
\nmay fear low quality service and discrimination if hospital staff
\nknow they are poor,\" Krisnawaty said, citing a number of cases.<\/p>\n
The women's group also demanded lower medical costs and higher
\nsubsidies for state-owned hospitals to serve the poor. They said
\nmoney spent on unnecessary and expensive medication could be
\nbetter put toward subsidizing the poor. They also protested the
\n\"explicit and implicit forms of commercialization of health
\nservices.\"<\/p>\n
The Director General of Medical Services at the Ministry of
\nHealth, whom they met later, said efforts at providing services
\nfor the poor are constrained by the ministry's Rp 946.3 billion
\nbudget. Health care is only allotted 2.5 percent of the state
\nbudget.<\/p>\n
Hospitals, he said, must undertake their social function \"but
\nmust also be managed economically\". (anr)<\/p>",
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