City haj hospital has double management

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Haj Hospital, inaugurated by President Soeharto in late 1994, is running under dual management because the joint ministerial decree authorizing a foundation to run the hospital has yet to be signed.

The six-story hospital, which has 200 patient rooms and updated medical equipment, was founded by a joint-ministerial decree of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

The hospital was meant to be a monument to commemorate the Mina tunnel disaster in Mecca, which claimed the lives of 631 Indonesian pilgrims in 1990.

The planned decree stipulated that the hospital would be managed by the Yayasan Rumah Sakit Haji Indonesia foundation.

"We want a clear regulation which is necessary to improve the service and quality of the hospital, which has actually been operational under a self-financed policy," the hospital's director, Retty S. Soedibyo, told a hearing with House of Representatives Commission VIII yesterday.

She said that the hospital was scheduled to be managed by the foundation, but after one-and-a-half years of operation, it is currently controlled by the city health office," she added.

"Therefore, we always make double financial reports, for the city health office and for other purposes," Retty said.

She urged a foundation, as stipulated in the original plan, to be established soon.

For the hospital's construction, the three ministries jointly donated Rp 6.6 billion (US$2.8 million), the city administration gave Rp 21.6 billion and the haj association, Rp 1 billion.

The city administration's dominant role in the hospital's management is apparently because of its being the major financer.

Darmansjah, a House member, told The Jakarta Post that the delay in the signing of the joint ministerial decree is due to technical problems.

He said that the appointed officials of the three ministries who were assigned to approve the decree have since moved to other posts. (kod)