Councilors lament rising number of hospital touts

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)