Govt ups budget for hospital services
Govt ups budget for hospital services
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Ministry of Health has increased this year's budget for the
provision of hospital services to the needy by 50 percent to Rp
500 billion (US$59.1 million) from Rp 326 billion last year.
The secretary of the ministry's Directorate General of Medical
Care of the ministry, Eddie Naydal Roesdal, said on Monday that
half of the funds would be distributed to state hospitals between
March and April. The rest would be disbursed in August and
September.
"The assistance will be given based on the hospitals'
expenditure reports," he told The Jakarta Post.
The funds would be taken from the compensation for the
reduction in fuel subsidies allocation for the health sector,
which amount to Rp 1 trillion so far this year. The additional
funds include Rp 300 billion for community clinics, Rp 130
billion for the generic medicines provided by the clinics, Rp 35
billion for Hepatitis B vaccines and Rp 35 billion for support
activities.
The government funds would be disbursed despite the fact that
around 36 percent of the financial aid distributed to 502
recipient hospitals last year remained unaccounted for.
"It is always a problem to get reports from the hospitals,"
said Roesdal. As of August 2003, only 236 hospitals had submitted
their routine accounts on the medical treatment provided to the
poor.
Many regency hospitals were unable to use all the funds
provided to them, said Roesdal further. The unused funds would be
carried over into this year's budget.
Some hospitals, however, spent too much, thereby running up
deficits.
"We are allocating Rp 40 billion this year to cover these
deficits, which should be enough for almost all of them," said
Roesdal.
Some 17 percent of Indonesia's 215 million people are
categorized as poor, according to the Central Statistics Agency.
They are supposedly eligible for free hospital treatment as long
as they can produce welfare cards (Gakin).
However, many of the needy are unable to get welfare cards as
they do not have identification cards.
To avoid this problem, the ministry hopes to change the
procedures in the future to exempt third class-ward patients from
all charges for services provided in a third class ward, said
Planning and Budgeting Bureau chief Gunawan Setiadi.
"We are still examining this possibility," he said, adding
however that the cost of such a new departure would be high.
"Therefore, local administrations would be required to
shoulder some of the burden," said Setiadi.
Roesdal said that the health ministry was drafting a
presidential decree on regional public hospitals, providing that
local administrations would be responsible for providing part of
the funds to be used in providing hospital treatment for the
needy.
However, no specific figure would be stipulated, he added.