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.