Health agency admits violations by hospitals over dengue patients
Health agency admits violations by hospitals over dengue patients
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Irregularities had been found among 16 recommended hospitals
supposed to provide free medical services for poor dengue fever
patients, the Jakarta Health Agency admitted on Thursday.
However, the agency said it would not impose any sanctions on the
hospitals.
"The 16 hospitals recommended by the agency should have
provided free treatment and should have not charged any fees,
including medicine and administration fees, as long as the
patients are being treated at third-class wards and suffer from
dengue," agency official Murdiati Umbas said.
Murdiati said hospitals must not ask patients for an ID cards
or letters issued by subdistrict offices to impoverished families
because the free service stopped being means tested from Feb. 20
this year.
However, Murdiati said it would be difficult to impose
sanctions on hospitals for not implementing the policy properly
as it was relatively new.
She said agency officials had made phone calls to hospital
management and reprimanded them over the irregularities
implementing the policy.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Health Consumer Empowerment
Foundation (YPKKI) issued its findings from a 10-day
investigation to the 16 hospitals from March 6 to March 16
involving 175 dengue patients.
The YPKKI revealed about 27 percent of dengue patients being
treated in third-class wards still had to pay for medical care,
including costs for needles, prescriptions and intravenous
liquids. It also found 20.6 percent of dengue patients staying in
emergency rooms had to pay for blood tests and medication.
The non-governmental organization listed the Cipto
Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM), Fatmawati Hospital and
Cilandak Marine Hospital as those violating the government's
policy by charging full fees to dengue fever patients.
Other hospitals of Mintohardjo Navy Hospital, Antariksa
Hospital, Harapan Kita Hospital, Budhi Asih Hospital, Suliyanti
Saroso Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Koja Hospital,
Persahabatan Hospital, Tarakan Hospital and Sukamto Police
Hospital were also found to have charged dengue patients.
YPKKI head Marius Widjajarta said the free-service regulations
were unclear, meaning hospitals interpreted the policy
differently.
Tarakan Hospital in West Jakarta provided free treatment for
patients from outside Jakarta, while Budhi Asih Hospital in East
Jakarta only provided free treatment for Jakarta residents, he
said.
The YPKKI also found irregularities in the starting date of
the policy implementation.
"We found that Koja Hospital (in North Jakarta) put out an
announcement it would not charge the public for dengue treatment
starting on Feb. 24, four days later than other hospitals,"
Marius said.
Agency finance head Salimar said patients who had already paid
their medical bills at the hospitals could claim their money
back.
She said the agency would instruct the hospitals to return the
patients' money. If the hospitals refused to do so, the patients
could contact the agency directly.