Council to approve more funds for the poor

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration's poverty alleviation scheme -- in which it will issue a special card that enables the holders to have access to free or subsidized education and medical treatment -- will need to double its funding to adequately support the program, according to one councillor.

"The City Council supports the scheme and we will approve the disbursement of between Rp 150 billion (US$16.48 million) and Rp 200 billion," deputy speaker of the council Ahmad Heryawan stated during a discussion on health services for the poor organized by the Indonesian Red Crescent on Tuesday.

"However, the administration must update and improve its database on poor families in the capital. The database is necessary to ensure the scheme's accountability," he added.

The administration allocated some Rp 75 billion to provide health services for the poor through the Gakin card scheme.

The special card will be similar to a health insurance card, but its premium will be covered by the city budget. It can also be used to cover the expenses for elementary and junior high education.

The card will be issued in four different colors to distinguish the amount to be subsidized -- 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent and 100 percent -- depending on a family's financial condition.

"We are currently working on it. Hopefully, the scheme can be fully implemented in 2007," said the City Health Agency head Abdul Chalik Masulili during the discussion.

He added that the new scheme would require a revision to determine families' level of poverty based on the city's current conditions. "We will collaborate with the University of Indonesia's School of Public Health for that purpose."

Around 1.5 million Jakartans are classified as disadvantaged based on their lack of access to education and health services.

The health agency initially used data from the Central Statistics Agency as its reference, with some 117,731 families eligible for subsidized medical services as of April 2004.

However, it was discovered later that only 30 percent of the families that received the Gakin card were actually eligible, while many of the truly needy were not even on the list.

Masulili said his office would also team up with the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) and the Indonesia Health Consumers Empowerment Foundation (YPKKI) to ensure the scheme's accountability. "If the scheme is implemented properly, we hope private firms will also pitch in and support it by donating funds."