Heart unit had no permit for 15 years

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The cardiovascular unit of Harapan Kita hospital, West Jakarta, has been operating without a construction permit (IMB) ever since it was established in 1985.

This was uncovered only when the hospital started the development of the new National Cardiovascular Center in 1999.

"We all know that when Ibu Tien Soeharto was still around, nobody dared question the existence of the (hospital's) IMB certificate," chairman of the cardiovascular hospital's donation board Dr. Syamsi Yacobalis told an audience, comprising public figures and officials, while presenting the financial report at the new center.

Former first lady Tien Soeharto was, during Soeharto's presidency, the chairperson of the Harapan Kita foundation, which ran the hospital.

According to the financial report, they spent Rp 3.3 billion on obtaining an IMB certificate, which amounts to 9.94 percent of the hospital's total construction cost of Rp 33,254,831,965. Syamsi conceded that it was a huge amount, and "quite surprising."

According to his secretary, Dr. Yohanes Mulyadi, however, besides being allocated for paying for the IMB, the money was also used for obtaining a building usage permit (IPB) during the renovation of the hospital, and for technical assessments.

"Most of it was allocated for technical assessments, but that did not run into hundreds of million of rupiah," said Mulyadi, without elaborating.

Chairman of House of Representatives Commission VII on public health issues Posma Tobing, meanwhile, questioned the need for the hospital to spend so much money on an IMB.

"To spend about 10 percent of the budget on an IMB is way too much. The building itself took only about Rp 10 billion, or 30 percent of the total budget," said Posma.

When later contacted for confirmation, Syamsi told The Jakarta Post that he was "half joking" when making his earlier statement.

"Actually we got the IMB the first time the hospital was established in 1985, but we could not find the document. So we had to trace it to the city's government," he said.

In further confirmation, Mulyadi later said the budget was also spent on payments on tax and to the supplies committee, labor wages, and "many other items of expenditure."