Councilors lament rising number of hospital touts

JAKARTA (JP): City councilors have expressed concern over the increasing number of touts working in public hospitals, particularly as it is feared their existence further burdens patients or people accompanying patients.

The councilors urged the city office of the Ministry of Health and other related parties over the weekend to take stern action against hospital touts.

"It is common knowledge here that patients, especially those in the low and middle-class bracket, are frequently moved about because they don't have enough money," Nitra Arsyad of Commission E for welfare affairs said.

Hospital personnel do not care whether a patient they handle is in a critical condition as long as the family can pay a deposit, Nitra said.

"At that crucial moment, the personnel often turn down patients on the grounds that there is a lack of rooms. And usually desperate relatives will do anything to save their loved ones.

"That's when the touts come and offer 'help' to find a room," he said.

The odd thing is, once a family pays for a tout's service, a room is suddenly available, he added.

Therefore, to save patients from further misery and to reestablish the function of hospitals as servers of the people, the city should crack down on such practices by assigning a team to put order back into hospitals, Nitra said. Such a team could be made up of various parties, including the Indonesian Red Cross, he said.

Reports show that touts do not only secure hospital rooms for patients, but also acquire medicines and blood.

Nitra suggested that in a bid to avoid such practices, people should become involved in the government's hospital insurance scheme (Askes).

"If people join Askes, they won't face long procedures when they are sick and need treatment," he said.

Hospital services should also be upgraded. "Make it like a hotel... good, caring service is important here," he added.

Lukman Mokoginta of Commission D for development affairs shared Nitra's opinion.

"The city must remove the public hospitals' poor image.

"When a patient's family uses a tout's services, the hospital will certainly lose some of its profit, ...because obviously a room is usually available but there is collusion between some officials and touts. Clearly, under these circumstances many hospital rooms are left vacant."

According to news reports, one public hospital considered a tout's favorite is Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta.

RSCM director H.M. Ahmad Djojosugito acknowledged during the hospital's 78th anniversary last November that service there was poor, but he pledged to make improvements despite funding problems.

"This is the consequence of being a public service institution, especially the center of reference for other hospitals that has to accept every patient."

Ahmad said the hospital had an annual budget of Rp 47 billion (US$13.7 million), which included paying for doctors and other medical staff and putting aside about Rp 1.5 billion for the poor.

The hospital's annual earnings are only between Rp 10 billion and Rp 17 billion, he said.

Ahmad acknowledged that some of the hospital's 6,026 staff had, at times, accepted bribes from patients or their relatives who wanted to ensure good service.

"The asking for money from patients mostly happens in the emergency unit," he said, adding that those asking for money knew exactly who to approach.

"The emergency unit patients or their relatives are the quickest to panic and they want immediate action, that's why they don't hesitate to accept any offer or promise at any price." (edt)