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.