Health ministry hit by corruption claims

JAKARTA (JP): An official from a consumer health protection body said on Tuesday that corrupt ministry officials continued to impede hospitals from securing Ministry of Health accreditation.

Marius Wijayarta of the Consumers Health Protection Foundation said the foundation had received complaints from seven hospitals. They claimed they had been "forced" by officials from the ministry's accreditation committee to pay money before the accreditation certificates would be granted.

"The tariff set by the hospital accreditation committee varies. A small hospital must pay up to Rp 12.5 million (US$1,602.6), while a bigger one pays about Rp 50 million," Marius told The Jakarta Post.

He said the committee comprised officials from the Ministry of Health and medical and science professionals, but that the committee was "dominated by ministry personnel".

He said that in many cases the committee members skipped several accreditation procedural stages, permitting some hospitals to obtain the certificates without following due process.

A normal accreditation process comprises four stages: input, process, output and impact.

Marius said a hospital could pass the input stage if it had all basic hospital facilities, including an emergency room, adequate medical equipment, good management and proper medical record systems.

"It is possible that a hospital, which has passed the input stage, may not obtain the certificate if its medical equipment fails to meet client satisfaction, meaning that it has failed to meet the impact stage standard," he said.

Separately, Minister of Health Farid Anfasa Moeloek said he would verify the reports with the committee.

"I will take firm action if the reports are true," Farid said on Tuesday after addressing a seminar on the government's health policy in the year 2010 at City Hall.

He said information about the corrupt practices was news to him.

"It's been a common practice in the country that staff only report good things," he said.

Head of the city office of the Ministry of Health, Deddy Ruswendi, strongly denied the report.

"There is no such practice. The truth is that management of hospitals paid for the transportation expenses of the accreditation committee members, but not more than that," he said.

Deddy said there were 48 accredited hospitals, out of a total of 95 state and privately owned city hospitals. (ind)