74 hospitals provide free health care for the poor
74 hospitals provide free health care for the poor
Leony Aurora, Jakarta
Five more hospitals in the capital will provide free health care
for poor families who hold Gakin (health care benefit) cards
under a scheme budgeted to spend Rp 61 billion (US$ 6.81) this
year.
Head of Planning and Budgeting at the City Health Agency
Salimar said on Thursday that in 2002, Gakin cardholders could
access only 30 hospitals. The following year the number rose to
69 and this year it was 74.
"In emergency cases, Gakin cardholders can be admitted to any
hospital," said Salimar at an afternoon meeting with hospital
representatives to discuss the scheme.
This year, Rp 40 billion is available from the city's budget
for health for the poor and for disaster victims. "From (state)
oil and gas subsidy compensation funds, we shall receive another
Rp 21 billion," said Salimar.
Rp 700 million was left over from last year's compensation
funds, she added.
In 2003, Jakarta provided Rp 54.3 billion in funding for the
poor living in the area, while the state provided Rp 19.9 billion
from the oil and gas subsidy compensation fund.
The local administration has established the use of Gakin
cards to free poor people from medical charges. Those who have
yet to receive such a card may ask for a letter confirming their
financial status from their neighborhood unit head to grant them
access to discounted medical services.
It is up to hospitals to determine how great a discount such
patients will receive, which can be as much as 100 percent. Some
hospitals have their own verification teams, as letters that
confirm poverty can easily be obtained and are often misused.
Hospital representatives at the meeting asserted that the
responsibility for verifying the financial status of patients
should not be in their hands.
Salimar acknowledged the problem and promised that next year
the agency would go to the field to renew its database.
In contrast to the present Gakin card, in 2005 there will be
four types of color-coded card, with criteria to determine who
should receive them, she elaborated.
"Based on their financial position, cardholders will be
eligible for discounts of 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent, or
100 percent."
The agency initially used data from the Central Statistics
Agency as its reference. When it discovered during verification
that only 20 percent of families were eligible for Gakin cards
and many of the needy were not on the list, it included more poor
families on its database.
As of April 2004, some 117,731 families were eligible for
cheap medical services using a Gakin card.