Fuel subsidy benefits well-to-do residents
Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung
Agus Sahlan, 30, a resident of Sribawono, East Lampung, was frustrated trying to arrange for his two nephews to receive free treatment at a hospital in Bandarlampung.
In the end, Agus had to pay in full for the boys' hospital stay, even though Lampung Governor Sjachroedin Z.P. earlier said the state would cover the medical bills of all poor residents seeking treatment for dengue fever or malaria, including those treated at private hospitals.
Despite this promise, there are numerous people being treated at hospitals in Bandarlampung who qualify for free treatment but are still being required to pay for care.
In many cases, this is because patients have not received the registered cards (gakin) that they must present to receive free medical care.
While many poor people are not getting free care, some relatively wealthy families have used gakin to get free medical treatment.
An employee at Kalianda hospital said that many people who could afford health care were using gakin to avoid paying their hospital bills.
The head of Kalianda Hospital, Dr. Yudha Putra, said it did not matter if a wealthy family used the card, as long as it was certified before the patient was admitted to the hospital.
According to data from the Lampung Bureau of Statistics, 432,000 families, or 2,381,585 people, in Lampung's 10 regencies and mayoralties were officially listed as poor. There are 56,530 poor families in Tanggamus, 15,349 in Way Kanan, 3,197 in Metro, 26,790 in Bandarlampung, 36,244 in North Lampung, 87,035 in South Lampung, 58,072 in East Lampung, 106,856 in Tulangbawang and 41,941 in Central Lampung.
Data from Lampung's National Family Planning Board shows there are 285,481 households, or 1.7 million people, in the province in need of free medical care.
"If there are an average of 3.5 people in a family, then the number of poor people who need free medical care totals 1,699,184 people," said Rosmalia Helmi, an official from the Lampung Health Office.
The 2005 provincial budget, under its Medical Care for Poor People program, allocates funds to provide free health care for 1,561,717 people.
The mayoralties and regencies will have to allocate funds from their budgets to provide health care for those people not covered in the provincial budget.
"There are still 137,467 poor families in Lampung in need of free medical care from the government," Rosmalia said.
The Medical Care for Poor People program will cover 1,561,717 people in 10 mayoralties and regencies in Lampung. These are West Lampung with 82,693 people, Tanggamus (173,970), South Lampung (340,900), East Lampung (257,189), Central Lampung (210,582), North Lampung (188,950), Way Kanan (112,257), Tulangbawang (126,257), Bandarlampung (58,935) and Metro (10,725).
About Rp 101.9 billion will be needed to provide 1,699,184 people with free medical care, but only Rp 93.7 billion has been allocated from the provincial budget.
Rosmalia said the Lampung provincial administration would provide an additional Rp 7.5 billion, while the remaining Rp 2.8 billion would come from local administrations.
The East Lampung regency is expected to provide Rp 860 million, North Lampung Rp 570 million, Tulangbawang and Way Kanan Rp 500 million each, Tanggamus Rp 350 million and West Lampung Rp 65.1 million. There is no word on how much Bandarlampung, Metro, South Lampung and Central Lampung will be providing.
The executive director of the Lampung Anti-Corruption Committee, Maya Ferlianti, said differences in data on the number of poor made it more likely that funds would be misused.
"In our experience, differences in data make it easier for the misappropriation of funds.
"Corrupt officials usually use the data that shows the most number of aid recipients, while most of the funds never reach those the money was intended for," Maya said.
In line with a ministerial decree on health care for the poor, the funds for the provincial health care program have been handed over to PT Asuransi Kesehatan to guarantee that those in need receive free medical care.