Free medical services available for the poor
Free medical services available for the poor
JAKARTA (JP): Free maternity services and additional nutrition
for babies are among facilities for the poor that are being
funded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian
Development Bank (ADB), Minister of Health Farid A. Moeloek said
on Tuesday.
He was addressing a hearing with House Commission VI for
health, social welfare, population and women's issues.
The facilities are being extended as part of what is called a
Protection Sector Development Program, the minister said.
"The program is designed to support the government's social
safety net program," Farid added.
Farid explained the program is being supported by Rp 1.05
trillion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while the
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged a further Rp 360 billion
in support in early October.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of
poor in the country reached 79.9 million, or 40 percent of the
total population, in June this year. Seventy percent of the poor
have limited access to nutritious food and live in villages with
inadequate medical services.
In April, United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) country
representative Stephen J. Woodhouse warned of nutrition
deficiency among the country's poor if food prices continued to
soar.
He said that many Indonesians were facing critical conditions
even before the crisis began last year. Unicef data at that time
showed that eight million children under the age of five were
seriously malnourished.
Since May, Farid said the ministry had received medical
supplies worth US$ 37.6 million from Japan, the Philippines,
Thailand, Malaysia, China, Singapore, Australia and non-
governmental organizations in the United States.
He said that ADB aid would be used to provide health
facilities in eight provinces, namely Central Java, South
Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, West Nusa
Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku and Irian Jaya. IMF funds
will be used to assist a further 19 provinces.
The minister said the funds would reach the nation's poor
through community health centers.
"Free health care in local community hospitals, free maternity
care, and supplementary food and nutrition for babies aged
between six and 12 months old are included," Farid added.
He said the facilities would be free for about a year, after
which the ministry would examine whether people were able to pay
for the services.
In addition to the above program, the ministry is continuing
to provide poor families with modest assistance which is now
worth less than $1 a year through the Public Health Care (JPKM)
scheme. The scheme, which began in 1992, provides each poor
family with an annual subsidy of Rp 10,000 for medical care.
Golkar's Rachmat Sentika questioned how the subsidy could
possibly cover the needs of a family of four or five people.
He also questioned the transparency with which the IMF and ADB
aid was being distributed, and queried the ability of community
health centers to manage the funds.
Farid explained that the funds would be directly distributed
to community health centers in rural areas through the state-run
post office network, PT Pos Indonesia. The allocation of funds
would be based on the number of poor people in each area, he
added. Transparency was assured by institutional supervision and
audits, he claimed.
Farid also stressed the ministry placed an emphasis on a
preventative approach to help people survive the crisis rather
than a curative approach. "Preventing illness is less expensive
than curing it," he said, referring to the rocketing price of
medicine.
He also recommended the use of traditional medicines as an
alternative to seeking qualified medical help. He said there were
around 850 species of plants and herbs in the country that could
be used for medicinal purposes. (01)