Foundation seeks Rp 110b damages over hospital

JAKARTA (JP): The Fatmawati Foundation, former owner of the Fatmawati Hospital in South Jakarta, is filing a law suit against three ministries and the city administration over the transfer of the hospital building to the Ministry of Health.

The plaintiff's lawyer, Djazuli Bachar, told the South Jakarta District Court yesterday that the foundation demanded Rp 110 billion in compensation for the loss of the building.

"The Ministry of Health has breached an agreement with the Fatmawati Foundation to jointly manage the hospital. The agreement was signed in 1967, when the foundation needed funds to run the hospital," Djazuli said.

Under the agreement, the Ministry of Health should provide the hospital with doctors, nurses, medical equipment and medicines.

Djazuli said the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and the city administration refused to issue a certificate for the 358,790 square meters of land on which the hospital stands, as applied for by the foundation. Instead, the certificate was given to the Ministry of Health.

"We want the court to cancel the Ministry of Health's ownership of the plot," he added.

The Fatmawati Foundation was founded by former president Sukarno's wife, Fatmawati, in 1953. The foundation undertakes social programs.

In the year of its establishment the foundation appropriated 416,000 sq. m. of land, 358,790 sq. m. of which was used to construct the Fatmawati Hospital. The hospital was built in 1954.

Claim

"Despite the agreement, the Ministry of Health has taken over the management of Fatmawati Hospital without involving the Fatmawati Foundation. The Ministry of Health has claimed since Oct. 1982 that the hospital belongs to the government," Djazuli said.

The Minister of Health promised to pay compensation to the foundation for the land and the hospital building, but the promise had yet to be honored, Djazuli said. Efforts to negotiate with ministry officials had failed, he added.

The Ministry of Health added buildings to the hospital in 1985 and installed new medical equipment, after claiming that the hospital belonged to the government, the lawyer added.

The next court session in the case, scheduled for Nov. 2, will hear from the defense. (29)