Health centers fare poorly

YOGYAKARTA: The Indonesian Consumer Foundation (YLKI) said on Wednesday most community health centers here provided poor service and had limited medical facilities.

YLKI official Ari Wibowo said a recent two-month study showed that most of the health centers only had six of the required 12 medical facilities, which include a maternity room, wheel chairs and disposal facilities.

Ari said the study also revealed that 66.4 percent of patients at the health centers complained about a lack of physicians, unfriendly service from paramedics, inaccurate diagnoses and short service hours.

"The results drew our concern, particularly since there are about 32,000 diarrhea cases and 23,000 respiratory cases we have to cope with each year," he said. (swa/dja)